"The title of Mar,"
observes Lord Hailes, "is one of the Earldoms whose origin is lost in
its antiquity." It existed before our records, and before the era of
general history: hence, the Earls of Mar claimed always to be called
first in the Scottish Parliament in the roll of Earls, as having no
rival in the antiquity of their honours.

From the time of Malcolm
Canmore, in the year 1065, until the fourteenth century, the family of
De Mar enjoyed this Earldom; but on the death of Thomas, the. thirteenth
Earl of Mar, in 1377, the direct male line of this race ended. The
Earldom then devolved upon the female representatives of the house of De
Mar; and thence, as in most similar instances in Scotland, it became the
subject of contention, fraud, and violence.

Isabel, Countess of Mar
and Garioch, the last of the De Mar family, was won in marriage by a
singular and determined species of courtship, formerly common in
Scotland; the influence of terror. The heiress of the castle of
Kildrummie, and a widow, her first husband, Sir Malcolm Druminond,
having died in 1403, her wealth and rank attracted the regards of
Alexander Stewart, the natural son of Robert Earl of Buchan, of royal
blood. Without waiting for the ordinary mode of persuasion to establish
an interest in his favour, this wild, rapacious man appeared in the
Highlands at the head of a band of plunderers, and planting himself
before the castle of Kildrummie, stormed it, and effected a marriage
between himself and the Countess of Mar. Alexander Stewart, in cooler
moments, however, perceived the danger of this bold measure, and
resolved to establish his right to the Countess and to her estates by
another process. One morning, during the month of September 1404, he
presented himself at the Castle gate of Kildrummie, and formally
surrendered to the Countess the castle, its furniture, and the
title-deeds kept within its chests; thus returning them to her to do
with them as she pleased. The Countess, on the other hand, holding the
keys in her hand, and declaring herself to be of "mature advice," chose
the said Alexander for her husband, and gave him the castle, the Earldom
of Mar, with all the other family estates in her possession. She
afterwards conferred these gifts by a charter, signed and sealed in the
open fields, in the presence of the Bishop of Ross, and of her whole
tenantry, in order to show that these acts were produced by no unlawful
coercion on the part of her husband. The said honours and estates were
also to descend to any children born in that marriage. Some of her
kindred listened resentfully to the account of these proceedings of
Isabel of Mar.

The next heir to the
Earldom, after the death of Isabel, was Janet, grand-daughter of Gratney,
eleventh Earl of Mar. This lady had married Sir Thomas Erskine, the
proprietor of the Barony of Erskine, on the Clyde, the property of the
family during many ages; and she expected, on the death of the Countess
of Mar, to succeed to the honours which had descended to her by the
female line. By a series of unjust and rapacious acts on the part of the
Crown, not only did Robert, Lord Erskine, her son, fail in securing his
rights, but her descendants had the vexation of seeing their just
honours and rights revert to the King, James the Third, who bestowed
them first upon his brother, the accomplished and unfortunate John Earl
of Mar, who was bled to death in one of the houses of the Canongate, in
Edinburgh ; and afterwards, upon Cochrane, the favourite of James the
Third. The Earldom of Mar was then conferred on Alexander Stewart, the
third son of King James; and after his death, upon James Stewart, Prior
of St. Andrews, who had a charter from his sister, Queen Mary, entitling
him to enjoy the long contested honour. But he soon relinquished the
title, to assume that of Moray, -which had also been bestowed upon him
by the Queen: and in 1555 Mary repaired the injustice committed by her
predecessors, and restored John Lord Erskine to the Earldom of Mar.

The house of Erskine, on
whom these honours now descended, has the same traditional origin as
that of most of the other Scottish families of note. In the days of
Malcolm the Second, a Scottish man having killed with his own hand
Enrique, a Danish general, presented the head of the enemy to his
Sovereign, and, holding in his hand the bloody dagger with which the
deed had been performed, exclaimed, in Gaelic, "Eris Skyne," alluding to
the head and the dagger; upon which the surname of Erskine was imposed
on him. The armorial bearing of a hand holding a dagger, was added as a
further distinction, together with the motto, Je pense plus
allusion to the declaration of the chieftain that he intended to perform
even greater actions than that which procured him the name which has
since been so celebrated in Scottish history. The crest and motto are
still borne by the family.

This anecdote has,
however, been rejected for the more probable conjecture that the family
of Erskine derived its appellation from the estate of Erskine on the
Clyde: [See Wood's Peerage of Scotland.] yet it is not impossible but
that tradition may, in most cases, have a deeper source than we are
willing to allow to it. "There are few points in ancient history,"
observes a modern writer, "on which more judgment is required than in
the amount of weight due to tradition. In general it will be found that
the tradition subsisting in the families themselves has a true basis to
rest upon, however much it may be overloaded with collateral matter
which obscures it." [Histories of Noble British Families by Henry
Drummond, Esq. Preface to Part I]

But that which ennobled
most truly the first Earl of Mar, of the house of Erskine, was his own
probity, loyalty, and patriotism. Destined originally to the church,
John, properly sixth Earl of Mar, carried into public life those virtues
which would have adorned the career of a private individual. In the
melancholy interest of Queen Mary's eventful life, it is consolatory to
reflect on the integrity and moderation of this exemplary nobleman. Too
good and too sensitive for his times, he (lied of a broken heart, the
result of that inward and incurable sorrow which the generous and the
honest experience, when their hopes and designs are baffled by the
selfish policy of their own party. "He was, perhaps," says Robertson,
"the only person in the kingdom who could have enjoyed the office of
Regent without envy, and have left it without loss of reputation."
[Robertson's History of Scotland, ii. 32.]

From the restoration of
John Earl of Mar to his family honours, until the reign of Charles the
First, the prosperity of this loyal and favoured family increased,
interrupted indeed by some vicissitudes of fortune, but by no serious
reverses, until that period which, during the commotions of the Great
Rebellion, reduced many of our proudest nobility to comparative poverty.

Among other important
trusts enjoyed by the family of Erskine, the government of the Castle of
Edinburgh, and the custody of the principal forts in the kingdom,
attested the confidence of their Sovereigns. To these was added by Mary
Queen of Scots, the command of the Castle of Stirling, and the still
more important charge of her infant son. To these marks of confidence
numerous grants of lands and high appointments succeeded,obligations
which were repaid with a fidelity which impoverished the family of
Erskine; and which produced, towards the close of the seventeenth
century, a marked decline in their fortunes, and decay of their local
influence.

John, ninth Earl of Mar,
the grandfather of the Jacobite Earl, suffered severely for his loyalty
in joining the association at Cumbernauld, 'n favour of Charles the
First. He afterwards raised forces at Bras-Mar for the King's service,
for which he was heavily fined by the Parliament, and his estates were
sequestrated. During all this season of adversity he lived in a cottage
at the gate of his house at Alloa, until the Restoration relieved him
from the sequestration.

His son Charles, who
raised the first regiment of Scottish Fusileers, and was constituted
their Colonel, began life as a determined Royalist; but disapproving of
the measures of .Fames the Second, he had prepared to go abroad when the
Prince of Orange landed in England. lie appears afterwards to have
pursued somewhat of the same wavering course as that of which his son
has been accused, and, joining the disaffected party against "William,
he was arrested, but afterwards released. The heavy incumbrances upon
his estates, contracted during the civil wars, were such as to oblige
him to sell a great portion of his lands, and to part with the ancient
Barony of Erskine, the first possession of the family. This necessity
may almost be considered as an ill omen for the future welfare of a
family; which never seems to be so utterly brought low by fortune, as
when compelled to consign to strangers that from which the first sense
of importance and stability has been derived.

Under these
circumstances, certainly not favourable to independence of character,
John, eleventh Earl of Mar of the name of Erskine, and afterwards
Lieutenant-general to the. Chevalier St. George, was born at Alloa, in
Clackmannan, where his father resided. He was a younger son of a
numerous family, five brothers, older than himself, having died in
infancy. His mother, the Lady Mary Maule, eldest daughter of George Earl
of Panmure, gave birth to eight sons, and a daughter. Of the sons, the
Earl of Mar and his brothers, James Erskine of the Grange, afterwards
the husband of the famous and unfortunate Lady Grange; and Henry, killed
at the battle of Almanza in 1707, alone attained the age of manhood. The
only sister of Lord Mar, Lady Jean, was married to Sir Hugh Paterson of
Bannockbum, in Stirlingshire.

The Earl of Mar succeeded
to the possession and management of estates, heavily encumbered, in
1696. His qualities of mind and person, at this early period of his
life, were not eminently pleasing. His countenance, though strongly
marked, hail none of the attributes of intellectual strength. In person
he is said to have been deformed, although his portrait by Kneller was
skilfully contrived to hide that defect; his complexion was fair: he was
short in stature. In his early youth the Earl is declared by historians
who were adverse to the Stuarts, to have been initiated into every
species of licentious dissipation, by Neville Payne: and the young
nobleman is characterized as "the scandal of his name." Although his
ancestors had been devotedly attached to the interests of the exiled
family, yet, it was to be shewn how far Mar preferred those interests to
his own, or upon what principles he eventually adopted the cause of
hereditary monarchy, which had already brought so much inconvenience,
and so many losses to his father and grandfather.

The first political
prepossessions of the young Earl must certainly have been those of the
Cavaliers; such was the name by which the party continued to be called
who still desired the restoration of James the Second, and fervidly
believed in the fruition of their hopes. His father had indeed, to use
the words of Lockhart of Carnwath, "embarked with the Revolution;" but
had given tokens of his deep contrition for that act, so inconsistent
with his hereditary allegiance. But the unformed opinions of the young
are far more easily swayed by events which are passing before their eyes
than by the cool reasonings of the closet; and the inclinations of the
Earl of Mar's childhood were likely soon to be effaced by the state of
public affairs. The later occurrences of the reign of William the Third
were calculated not only to repress the spirit of Jacobitism, but to
shame even the most enthusiastic of its partisans out of a scheme which
the sagacity of William had defeated, and which his wisdom had taught
him to forgive. It was in the year 1696, just as the Earl of Mar
succeeded to his title, that the projected invasion of the kingdom, and
the scheme of assassinating the King, were defeated:that William,
hastening to the House of Commons, gave to the nation an account of the
whole conspiracy. The House of Commons, without rising from their seats,
then "declared that William was their rightful king, and that they would
defend him with their lives." It was at this important time that James
the Second, after long waiting at Calais, and casting thence many a
wishful look towards England, returned to St. Germains, "to thank God
that he had lost his country, because it had saved his soul." The hopes
of the Cavaliers were thus wholly extinguished: and to these
circumstances were the first observations of the youthful Earl of Mar
doubtless directed.

His guardians, seemingly
desirous of retrieving the affairs of the family, had endeavoured to
imbue his mind "with Revolution principles;* and the famous association
which acknowledged the title of "William to the throne of England,
framed about this time, was signed by many who became in after life the
friends of the Earl of Mar. This was precisely the period when that
political profligacy, too justly charged upon the leading men in this
country, and which induced them, under the impression that the exiled
family would be eventually restored, to correspond with the Court of St.
Germains, was tranquillized, although not eradicated by the great policy
and forbearance of William. That single reply of William's to Charnock,
who had trafficked between France and England with these negotiations,
and who offered to disclose to the King the names of those who had
employed him;these few words, ''I do not wish to hear them,"| did more
to soothe discontents, and to repress the violence of faction, than the
subsequent executions in the reign of George the First.

The Earl of Mar, left as
he was at the early age of fourteen to his own guidance, very soon
displayed a. remarkable prudence in his pecuniary affairs, and a desire
to repair by good management the fortunes of his family,a point which
he accomplished, to a certain extent. His dawning character shewed him
to be shrewd and wary, but possessing no extended views, and disposed to
rest his hopes of elevation and distinction upon petty intrigues, rather
than to look upon probity and exertion as the true basis of greatness.
His great talent consisted in the management of his designs, "in
which,'' remarks one who knew him well, "it was hard to find him out
when he desired to be incognito; and thus he shewed himself to be a man
of good sense, but bad morals."'

On the 8th of September,
1696, the Earl of Mar took his seat in the Scottish Parliament,
protesting, as his forefathers had done, against any Scottish Earl being
called before him in the Roll, lie became a frequent, but indifferent
speaker in Parliament; but his continual activity, and the address which
he soon acquired as the fruit of experience, together with the position
which he held, as one generally understood to be well affected to the
new older of things, yet of sufficient importance to be gained over to
the other side, soon made him an object for party spirit to assail.

During the reign of
William, the Earl of Mar continued constant to the side to which he had
declared himself to belong. His pecuniary embarrassments, acting upon a
restless, ambitious temper, rendered it difficult to a man weak in
principle to retain independence of character: and it must be avowed,
that there are few temptations to depart from the road of integrity more
urgent than the desire to raise an ancient name to its original
splendour. No encumbrances are so likely to drag their victim away from
integrity as those by which rank is clogged with poverty.

In April, 1697, Lord Mar
was chosen a privy councillor; and shortly afterwards invested with the
Order of the Thistle; and the command of a company of foot bestowed upon
him. On the death of William his fortune was rather improved than
deteriorated, although he continued to attach himself to the Revolution
Party, who, it was generally understood, were very far from being
acceptable to the Queen. "At her accession," declares a Jacobite writer,
"the Presbyterians looked upon themselves as undone; despair appeared in
their countenances, which were more upon the melancholic and dejected
than usual." The management of Scottish affairs was, nevertheless,
entirely in the hands of the advocates of the Revolution; and one of
their greatest supporters, the Duke of Queensbury. was appointed High
Commissioner of the Scottish Parliament, notwithstanding the
representations of some of the most powerful nobility in Scotland.

To the party of this
celebrated politician the Earl of Mar attached himself, with a tenacity
for which those who recollected the hereditary politics of the Erskine
family, could find no motives but self-interest. James, Duke of
Queensbury, was, it is true, the son of one of the most active partisans
of the Stuart family, to whom the house of Queensbury owed both its
ducal rank and princely fortune. Possessed of good abilities, but devoid
of application, and with the disadvantage to a public man of being of an
easy, indolent temper, this celebrated promoter of the union between
Scotland and England, had acquired, by courtesy, and by a long
administration of affairs, a singular influence over Ins countrymen. His
character has been written with a pen that could scarcely find
sufficient invectives for those politicians who, in the opinion of the
writer, were the ruin of their country. The Duke of Queensbury falls
under the heaviest censures. "To outward appearance," says Lockhart, "he
was of a gentle and good disposition, but inwardly a very devil,
standing at nothing to advance his own interest and designs. Though his
hypocrisy and dissimulation served him very much, yet he became so well
known, that no man, except such as were his nearest friends, and
socii criiminis, gave him any trust; and so little regard had he to
his promises and vows, that it was observed and notorious, that if he
was at any pains to convince you of his friendship, and by swearing and
imprecating curses on himself and family to assure you of his sincerity,
then, to be sure, he was doing you underhand all the mischief in his
power."

These characteristics
must be viewed as proceeding from the pen of a partisan; nor can we
wonder at the contrariety of opinion which prevails respecting any
public man who proposes a great and startling measure. Honours, places,
and a pension were showered down upon this most fortunate of ministers;
and His career is remarkable as having been cheered by the favour of
four sovereigns of very different tempers. In his early youth, after his
return from his travels, the Duke of Queensbury was appointed a Privy
Councillor of Scotland by Charles the Second. He held the same-post
under James the Second, but resigned it in 1688. The reserved and
doubting "William of Orange placed him near his person, making him a
Lord of the Bedchamber, and captain of his Dutch guard; eventually he
became Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, and to abridge a list of
numerous employments and honours Lord High Commissioner of Scotland. So
far had Queensbury's fortunes begun with the Stuarts and continued under
the House of Orange. It appeared unlikely that the successor of
Williamshe who in her first speech announced that her heart was "wholly
English," to mark the distinction between herself and the foreigner who
had sat on the throne before her, would adopt as her own representative
in Scotland the favourite of William; yet she continued Queensbury in
that high station which it was believed none could fill so adequately in
the disturbed and refractory kingdom of Scotland.

During the early years of
Queen Anne's reign, and in the season of his own comparative prosperity,
the young Earl of Mar entered into his first marriage, at Twickenham,
with Lady Margaret Hay, daughter of John Earl of Kinnoul. The wife whom
he thus selected was the daughter of a house originally adverse to the
principles of the Revolution. William Earl of Kinnoul, in the time of
James the Second, had remained at St. Germains with that monarch. But
the same change which had manifested the political course of Lord Mar,
had been apparent in the father of Lady Margaret Tay. The Earl of
Kinnoul was afterwards one of the Commissioners for the Union, and
supported that treaty in Parliament; yet, when the Rebellion of 1715
commenced, this nobleman was one of the suspected persons who were
summoned to surrender themselves, and was committed a prisoner to
Edinburgh Castle. His daughter, the Countess of Mar, was happily spared
from witnessing the turmoils of that period. Married in her seventeenth
year, she lived only tour years with a husband whose character was but
partially developed, when, in 1707, she died at the age of twenty-one,
having given birth to two sons. She was buried at the family seat at
Alloa Castle, an ancient fortress, built in the year 1300, one turret of
which still remaining rises ninety feet from the ground. Seven years
intervened before Lord Mar supplied the place of his lost wife by
another union.

His days were, indeed,
consumed in public affairs, varied by the improvement of his Scottish
estates, embellishing the tower of Alloa by laying out beautiful gardens
in that wilderness style of planting which the Earl first introduced
into Scotland. He had the reward of seeing Ids efforts succeed, the
gardens of Alloa being much eulogized and visited. This was by no means
Lord Mar's only recreation; architecture was his delight, and he
introduced into London the celebrated Gibbs, who, out of gratitude,
eventually bequeathed a large portion of his fortune to the children of
the Earl.® It is refreshing to view this busy and versatile politician
in this light before we plunge into the depths of those intricate
politics which form the principal features of his life.

It was during the year
1703 that a political association or club was framed consisting of the
chief nobility and gentlemen of fortune and afterwards known by the name
of the Squadroae Volante. They acquired distinguished popularity and
influence by the patriotic character of the measures which they
introduced into the Scottish Parliament; and by their professions of
being free from any court interest, they gained the confidence of the
country. They were then friends of the Revolution party, great sticklers
to the Protestant succession, forming a separate hand distinct from the
Whigs, yet opposed to the Cavaliers, or, as they were afterwards called,
Jacobites. The power of the Squadrone was, in a great measure, the
result of those .jarring, counsels in the Scottish Parliament, which
only coalesced upon one theme, independence of Englandinterference of
"foreign" or English counsels, as they were termed. This combination was
headed by the Duke of Montrose, the Marquis of Tweedale, and several
other Scottish noblemen, to whom adhered thirty commoners.

During the existence of
this association, the celebrated "Queensbury affair," as it was usually
called, i nvolved the temporary disgrace of the Duke of Queensbury, and
first brought to view those convenient doctrines of expediency which
afterwards formed so marked a feature in the character of Lord Mar.

The "sham plot," as it is
called by Jacobite writers, was a supposed intended invasion of Great
Britain, disclosed to the Duke of Queensbury by Simon Fraser of
Beaufort, afterwards Lord Lovat; whose very name seems to have suggested
to his contemporaries, as it has since done to posterity, the
combination of all that is subtle, treacherous, and base, with all that
is dangerous, desperate, and remorseless in conduct.

This tool of the court of
St. Gerrnains came over from France, in company with John Murray, who
was sent to watch his proceedings, and also to aid his object in
procuring the promises of the most distinguished Highland chieftains to
the furtherance of the projected invasion of England. The assistance of
Captain Murray was conjoined on this occasion, the fidelity of that
gentleman having been ascertained by the court of St. Germains; whilst
there existed not a human being who did not instinctively distrust
Beaufort : to Mary of Modena, who far more ardently desired the
restoration of the Stuarts than her consort James, he was peculiarly
obnoxious.

The exiled Queen's fears
proved well founded, for no sooner had Beaufort landed in England, than
he formed the scheme of converting this secret enterprise into a means
of obtaining reward and protection from the Duke of Argyle, whose
mediation with the Duke of Queensbury he required for private reasons;
he therefore notified his arrival to Argyle, who had been his early and
hereditary friend, offering at the same time to make great disclosures,
if he hail previous assurances of remuneration.

Such is the account of
most impartial writers, and more especially of those who lean to the
Whig party. but, by the Jacobites, the very existence of a conspiracy to
invade England at this time was denied, and the whole affair was
declared to be a scheme of the Duke of Queenslmry's to undermine the
reputation of the Cavaliers, and "to find a pretence to vent his wrath,
and execute his malice against those who thwarted his arbitrary
designs," for the completion of a treaty of union between Scotland and
England, which had been in contemplation ever since the days of William
the Third *

After much deliberation
the Duke of Queensbury was induced to have several communications with
Fraser of Beaufort, and to listen to the information which he gave, all
of which the Duke transmitted to Queen Anne, although he concealed the
name of his informant. In consequence of Eraser's disclosures, several
persons coming from France to England were apprehended on suspicion of
being engaged in the Pretender's service, and an universal alarm was
spread, as well as a distrust of the motives and proceedings of
Queensbury, who thus acted upon the intelligence of an avowed spy, and
noted outlaw, like Fraser. A temporary loss of Queensbury's political
sway in Scotland was the result, and a consequent increase of power to
the Squadrone Yolante.

It was at this juncture
that the Earl of Mar came forward as the advocate of the Duke of
Queensbury's measures, arid the opponent of the Squadrone. Yolante, who
had now completely fixed upon themselves that name, from their
pretending to act by themselves, and to cast the balance of contending
parties in Parliament. The opposition of Lord Mar to the Squadrone was
peculiarly acceptable to the Tories, or Cavaliers, who had recently
applied to that faction to assist, them in the defence of their country
against the Union, but who had been greeted with an indignant and
resolute refusal.

The Earl of Mar therefore
appeared as the champion of the Cavaliers, and for the first time won
their confidence and approbation. "He headed," writes the bitter and yet
truthful Lockhart, "such of the Duke of Queensbury's friends as opposed
the Marquis of Tweedalp and his party's designs; and that with such art
and dissimulation, that he gained the favour of all the Tories, and was
by them esteemed an honest man, and well inclined to the royal family.
Certain it is, he vowed and protested as much many a time; but no sooner
was the Marquis of Tweedale and his party dispossessed, than he returned
as a dog to the vomit, and promoted all the court of England's measures
with the greatest zeal imaginable." The three parties in the Scottish
Parliament, according to the. same authority, consisted of the
Cavaliers,that remnant of the Jacobite party which remained vigorous,
more especially in the Highlands, since the days of Dundee,of the
Squadrone, "or outer court party," and of the present court party,
consisting of true blue Presbyterians and Bevolutioners. With the
interests of the latter party the Earl of Mar was undoubtedly engaged.

Scotland was at this
time, and continued for several years, racked with dissensions regarding
the Treaty of Union. No one can form an adequate idea of the
heartburnings, feuds, parties, and tumults, by which that great measure
was preceded, and followed, without looking into the contemporary
writers, whose aim it ever is to heighten the picture of passing events;
whereas the cairn historian subdues it into one general effect of
keeping.

The Earl of Mar took a
prominent part in seconding the treaty; no man's commencement of a
career could be more opposed to its termination than that of this
politician of easy virtue. The Duke of Queensbury was for some time so
hated in Scotland as scarcely to venture to appear there, but contented
himself with sending the Duke of Argyle as commissioner, and " using him
as the monkey did the cat in palling out the hot roasted chesnut." But
when he was, after an interval, reinstated in power, Lord Mar was again
his devoted ally. The influence of the Duke over every mind with which
he came into collision was, indeed, almost irresistible. "I cannot but
wonder," remarks the indignant Lockhart, It at the influence he had over
all men of sense, quality, and estate; men that had, at least many of
them, no dependance on him, yet were so deluded as to serve his
ambitious designs, contrary to the acknowledged dictates of their own
conscience."

In 1706, in the beginning
of the session of Parliament, the Earl of Mar presented the draught of
an Act for appointing Commissioners, to treat of an Union of the two
kingdoms of Scotland and England. Thus was he the instrument of first
presenting to the Scotch that measure so revolting to their prejudices,
so singularly distasteful to a proud and independent people. It is
impossible to judge how far Lord Mar was convinced of the expediency of
the Treaty, or whether he was, in secret, one of those who feigned an
affection for the measure, whilst, in their hearts, they wished for the
preponderance of the votes against it. The Treaty of Union was espoused
by those iu whose opinions Lord Mar had been nurtured,and originally,
according to De Foe, it had been mooted by W iiliam the Third, who
declared that this Island would never be easy without an union. "I have
done all I can in that aifair," he once observed; "but I do not see a
temper in either nation that looks like it: it may be done, but not
yet."

The Treaty, retarded by
many interests, clashing between nations, but, more especially, by the
burning recollections of massacred countrymen in the bloodstained
"valley of Glencoe, was now brought into discussion lust when the Earl
of Mar was at that age when a thirst for gain, or an ambition to rise is
un-quenched, in general, by disappointment. Differing in one respect
from many Cavaliers, in being of a family strictly Protestant, Lord Mar
had not the inducement which operated upon the Catholics, in their
undiminished, ardent desire to restore the young Prince of Wales to the
throne. Differing, again, in another respect from many of the Jacobites,
Lord Mar had not the tic of a personal knowledge of the exiled King to
fix his fidelity; or, what was considered far more likely to have sealed
his, or any adherent allegiance, he had enjoyed no opportunities of
cultivating the favour of the enthusiastic, bigoted, and yet intelligent
Mary of Modena, whose exertions? for her family kept alive the spirit of
Jacobitism during the decline of her royal devotee and the childhood of
her son. Lord Mar seems to have been reared entirely in Scotland, and he
might perhaps come under the description given by the eloquent Lord
Belhaven of a Whig in Scotland:''A true, blue Presbyterian, who,
without considering time or power, will venture all for the Kirk, but
something less for the State;" but that his subsequent conduct
contradicts this supposition.

The Treaty struggled on
through a powerful and memorable opposition. It is a curious instance of
Scottish pride, that one of the objections made to the Commissioners
appointed to treat of the Crown, was, that there were six or eight
newly-raised families amongst them, and but few of the great and ancient
names of Hamilton, Graham, Murray, Erskine, and many others. Never was
there so much domestic misery and humiliation, abroad, for poor
Scotland, as during the progress of this Treaty. The fame of
Marlborough, and the fortunes of Godolphin, were now at their zenith;
they were considered as the great arbiters of Scottish affairs,the
Queen being only applied to for the sake of form. These two great
statesmen treated the Scottish noblemen to whom the Cavaliers entrusted
the success of their representations, with a lofty insolence, which
galled the proud Highlanders, and went to their very hearts.

"I myself," writes the
author of Memoirs of Scotland, "out of curiosity, went sometimes to
their levees, where I saw the Commissioners, the Duke of Queensbury, the
Chancellor, the Secretary, Lord Mar, and other great men of Scotland,
hang on near an hour; and when admitted, treated with no more civility
than one gentleman pays another's valet-de-chambre; and for which the
Scots have none to blame but themselves, for had they valued themselves
as they ought to have done, and not so meanly and sneakingly prostituted
their honour and country to the will and pleasure of the English
Ministry, they would never have presumed to usurp such a dominion over
Scotland, as openly and avowedly to consult upon and determine in Scots'
affairs.

At home, the spirit of
party ran to an extent which cannot he called insane, because the
interests at stake were those dearest to a high-spirited people.
"Factions." exclaimed Lord Belhaven, "in Parliament, are now become
independent, and have got footing in councils, iu parliaments, 'n
treaties, in armies, in incorporations, in families, among kindred; yea,
man and wife arc not free from them." "Hannibal, my Lord," he cried, in
one of what Loekhart calls his long premeditated harangues, "Hannibal is
at our gates; Hannibal is come the length of this table; he is at the
foot of this throne: he will demolish the throne; if we take not notice,
he will seize upon these regalia; he'll take them as our spolia opima,
and whip us out of this House, never to return again."

In order to understand
the effect of the Act of Union upon the hopes of the Jacobite party, it
is necessary to take into consideration the following facts. The Act of
the English Parliament, by which the Crown had been settled on Queen
Mary and her sister, extended only to the Princess Anne and her issue.
After the death of the Duke of Gloucester, and about the end of the
reign of William the Third, another settlement was made, by which the
Crown was settled on the House of Hanover; but no similar Act was passed
in Scotland. And at the beginning of Queen Anne's reign, and until after
the Union, the Scottish Parliament were legally possessed of a power to
introduce again the exiled family into Great Britain.

During the course of the
negotiations for the Treaty of Union, the Earl of Mar formed an alliance
with the celebrated Duke of Hamilton. In the consideration of public
affairs at this period, it may not appear a digression to give some
insight into the character of one who headed the chief party in the
Scottish Parliament, and with whom the Earl of Mar was, at this period
of his life, in frequent intercourse.

James Duke of Hamilton
was at this period nearly fifty years of age. His youth had been passed
in the gay court of Charles the Second, as one of the Gentlemen of the
Bedchamber of that monarch.an office which he only relinquished to
become Ambassador Extraordinary to France, where he remained long enough
to serve in two campaigns under Louis the Fourteenth. Upon the death of
Charles the Second, Louis recommended the young nobleman, then termed
Earl of Arran, strongly and essentially to James the Second, who made
him Master of his Wardrobe, and appointed him to other offices.

Under these circumstances
it is not surprising that in the honest and warm feelings of the Duke of
Hamilton, affection for the Stuarts should form a principal feature. He
had the courage to adhere firmly to James the Second, amid the general
obloquy, and to accompany the monarch on his abdication to his
embarkation at Rochester. "I can distinguish," he said, at a meeting of
the Scottish nobility in London, over which his father, the Duke of
Hamilton presided, "between the King's popery and his person. I dislike
the one, but have sworn to do allegiance to the other, which makes it
impossible to withhold that which I cannot forbear believing is the King
my master's right: for his present absence in France can no more- affect
my duty, than his longer absence from us has done all this while."

Notwithstanding these
professions, upon the unfortunate conclusion of the affair of Darien,
the Earl of Arran, after twice encountering imprisonment upon account of
the Stuarts, esteemed it his duty to his country to take the oaths to
King William, in order to qualify himself to sit in Parliament.

The character of the Duke
of Hamilton presents a favourable specimen of the well-principled and
well-intentioned Scotchman, with the acknowledged virtues and obvious
defects of the national character. He was disinterested in great
matters, refusing many opportunities of worldly advantage, and bearing
for the first eight years of his public career, a retirement which is
always more galling to an ambitious temper than actual danger; yet, it
was supposed, and not without reason, that, whilst his heart was with
the Cavaliers, or country party, the considerations of his great estate
in England occasioned a lukewarrnness in his political conduct, and
broke down his opposition to the Union. Wary and cautious, he could thus
sacrifice his present hopes of a distinction which his talents would
have readily attained, to his adherence to a lost cause; hut his
resolution failed when the sacrifice of what many might deem inferior
interests, was required.

The Duke soon formed a
considerable party in the Parliament; and his empire over the affections
of his countrymen grew daily. To those to whom he confided, the Duke was
gracious and unbending; but a suspicion of an insult recalled the native
haughtiness attributable to his house. "Frank, honest, and
good-natured," as he was esteemed by Swift, and displaying on his dark,
coarse countenance, the characteristics of good sense and energy, the
Duke was a bitter and vindictive foolcharacteristics of his age, and of
a nation undoubtedly prone to wreak a singular and remorseless revenge
on all who offend the hereditary pride, or militate against the
prejudices of its people.

Endowed with these
qualities, the whole career of James Duke of Hamilton was a struggle
between his love for his country, and his consideration for what he
esteemed its truest interests, and his desire to support the claims of
the royal family of Stuart. His political career has been criticised byr
writers of every faction; but it must be judged of as having taken place
in times (if peculiar difficulty, and a due credit should be given to
the motives of one who displayed, during the greater portion of his
life, forbearance and consistency. "Had not his loyalty been so
unalterable," writes Lockhart, "and that he would never engage in King
William's and his Government's service, and his love to his country
induced him to oppose that King and England's injustice and
encroachments on it, no doubt he had made as great a figure in the world
as any other whatsoever, and that either in a civil or military
capacity." "The Duke of Hamilton's love for his country," observes a
contemptuous, anonymous assailant, " iaade him leave London, and follow
King James, who had enslaved it. His love to his country had engaged him
in several plots to restore that prince, and with him, tyranny and
idolatry, poverty and slavery." Upon the odious principle of always
seeking out for the lowest and the most selfish motive that can actuate
the conduct of men,a principle which is thought by weak and bad minds
to display knowledge of the world, but which, in fact, more often
betrays ignorance,another part of his conduct was misjudged. The
reluctance of the Duke of Hamilton, in 1704, to nominate a successor to
the throne of England, before framing the treaty touching the Commerce
of Scotland and other Concerns, was ascribed by many to the remote hope
of succeeding to the Crown, since, in case of the exclusion of the
Princess Sophia and her descendants, his family was the next in
succession, of the Protestant Faith. Such was one of the reasons
assigned for the wise endeavour which this nobleman exerted to prevent
an invasion of the kingdom by James Stuart during the reign of Anne, and
such the motive adduced for his advice to the Chevalier to maintain
terms of amity with his royal sister. It was the cause calumniously
assigned of his supposed decline in attachment to the exiled family.

But, notwithstanding the
inference thus deduced, the Duke. of Hamilton continued to enjoy, in no
ordinary degree, popular applause and the favour of Queen Anne, until
his tragical death in 1712 occurring just before the Rebellion of 1715,
spared him the perplexity of deciding on which side he should embark in
that perilous and ill omened insurrection.

This celebrated
statesman,one who never entered into a now measure, nor formed a
project, "though in danger thereof,'' says Lockhart, "he was too
cautious" that he did not prosecute his designs with a courage that
nothing could daunt,now determined to win over the Earl of Mar from the
Duke of Queensbury. The Duke of Hamilton was the more induced to the
attempt, from the frequent protestations made by the Earl of Mar of his
love for the exiled family; and he applied himself to the task of
gaining this now important ally with all the skill which experience and
shrewdness could supply. Hamilton was considered invincible in such
undertakings, and was master of a penetration which no one could
withstand. "Never was," writes Lockhart, "a man so qualified to be the
head uf a party as himself; for he could, with the greatest dexterity,
apply himself to, and sift through, the inclinations of different
parties, and so cunningly manage them, that he gained some of all to
his." But the Duke met 'n Lord Mar with one equally skilled in diving
into motives, and in bending the. will of others to his own projects. In
the encounter of these two minds, the Duke is said to have been worsted
and disarmed; and the Earl of Mar, by his insinuations, is suspected to
have materially influenced the conduct of that great leader of party.
''I have good reason to suppose," says Lockhart, "that his Grace's
appearing with less zeal and forwardness in this ensuing than in former
Parliaments, is attributable to some agreement passed between them two."

For the effect of his
newly-acquired influence over the Duke of Hamilton, and for his other
services in promoting the Union, the Earl of Mar was amply rewarded.
During the Parliament of 1705, he was constituted one of the
Commissioners of that Treaty, his name being third on the list. In 1706,
he was appointed one of the Secretaries of State for Scotland; and
afterwards, upon the loss of that office, in consequence of the Union
between the two countries, he was compensated by being made Keeper of
the Signet, with the addition of a pension. Those who were the promoters
of the Treaty must have required some consolation for the general
opprobrium into which the measure brought the Commissioners. The
indignant populace converted the name of "Treaters" into Traitors: the
Parliament Close resounded with "very free language," denouncing the
''Traitors." That picturesque enclosure, since destroyed by lire, was
crowded by a vehement multitude, who rushed into the outer Parliament
House to denounce the Duke of Queensbury and his party, and to cheer the
Duke of Hamilton, whom they followed to his residence in Holyrood House,
exhorting him to stand by his country, and assuring him of support. The
tumults were, indeed, soon quelled by military force; but the
deliberations of Parliament were carried on at the risk of summary
vengeance upon the " Traitors:" and the eloquence of members was uttered
between walls which were guarded, during the whole session, by all the
military force that Edinburgh could command. The Duke of Queensbury was
obliged to walk " as if he had been led to the gallows," through two
lanes of musqueteers, from the Parliament House to the Cross, where his
coach stood; no coaches, nor any person who was not a member, being
allowed to enter the Parliament Close towards evening : and he was
conveyed in his carriage to the Abbey, surrounded both by horse and foot
guards.

On the 1st of May, 1707,
the Articles of Union were ratified by the Parliament of England. That
day has been set down by the opponents of the measure as one never to be
forgotten by Scotland,the loss of their independence and sovereignty.
Superstition marked every stage of the measure as happening upon some
date adverse to the Stuarts. On the fourth of November the first Article
of the Union was approved; on a fourth of November was William of Orange
born. On the eighth of January the Peerage was renounced; on an eighth
of January was the warrant for the Murder at Glencoe signed. The
ratification of the Article of Union was on the sixteenth of January. On
a sixteenth of January was the sentence of Charles the First pronounced.
The dissolution of the Scottish Parliament took place upon the
twenty-fifth of March, according to the Old Style, New Year's Day: that
concession might therefore be esteemed a New-year's Gift to the English.

Finally,The Equivalent,
or Compensation Money, that is, " the price of Scotland,'' came to
Edinburgh on the fifth of August, the day on which the Earl of Gowrie
designed to murder James the Sixth.

The discontents and
tumults which attended the, progress of the Union ran throughout the
whole country, and pervaded all ranks of people. Yet it is remarkable,
that the nobility of Scotland should have been the first to fail in
their opposition to the measure; and that the middle ranks, together
with the lowest of the people, should have been foremost to withstand
what they considered as insulting to the independence of their country.
The very name and antiquity of their kingdom was dear to them, although
there remained, after the removal of James the First into England,
little more than " a vain shadow of a name, a yoke of slavery, and image
of a kingdom." It was in vain that the Duke of Hamilton had called, in
the beginning of the debates on this measure, upon the families of "
Bruce, Campbell, Douglas," not to desprt their country: the opposition
to the Union was bought over, with many exceptions, with a price;
twenty thousand pounds being sent over to the Lords Commissioners to
employ in this manner, twelve thousand pounds of which were, however,
returned to the English Treasury, there being no more who would accept
the bribe. The Earl of Mar and the Earl of Seafield had privately
secured their own reward, having bargained " for greater matters than
could be agreed upon while the kingdom of Scotland stood in safety." f

Amidst the resentment of
the Scotch for their insulted dignity, it is amusing to find that this
Union of the two countries could be deemed derogatoiv to English
dignity; yet Dean Swift, among others, considered it in that light. "
Swift's hatred to the Scottish nation," observes Sir Walter Scott, led
him to look upon that Union with great resentment, as a measure
degrading to England. The Scottish themselves hardly detested the idea
more than he did; and that is saying as much as possible."

Swift vented his wrath in
the verses beginning with these lines:

"The Queen has lately lost
a pert
Of her entirely-English heart,
For want of which, by why of botch,
She piec'd it up again with Scotch.
Blest Revolution! which creates
Divided hearts, united states '
See how the double nntion lies
Like a rich coat with skirts of frize
As if a man in making posies,
Should bundle thistles up with roses!"

That the conduct of Lord
Mar throughout this Treaty was regarded with avowed suspicion, the
following anecdote tends to confirm: Lord Godolphin, at that time First
Lord of the Treasury, wishing to tamper with one of a combination
against the Queensbury faction, sent to offer that individual a place if
he would discover to him how the combination was formed, and in what
manner it might be broken. But the gentleman whose fidelity he thus
assailed, was true to his engagements; and returned an indignant answer,
desiring the Lord Treasurer's agent "not to think that he was treating
with such men as Mar and Seafield."!

At this time the Earl of
Mar was said to be in the. full enjoyment of Lord Godolphin's
confidence, and to have heen one of those whom the treasurer consulted,
in settling the government of Scotland. The rumour was not conducive to
his comfort or well-being in his native country; and the Earl appears to
have passed much more time in intrigues in London than among the gardens
of Alloa.

It was not long before
the. effects of the general discontent were manifested in the desire of
the majority of the Scottish nation to restore the descendant of their
ancient kings to the throne, and even the Cameronians and Presbyterians
were willing to pass over the objection of his being a Papist. "God may
convert the Prince," they said, "or he may have Protestant children, but
the Union never can be good." The middle orders openly expressed their
anxiety to welcome a Prince to their shores, whom they regarded as a
deliverer: the nobility and gentry, though more cautious, yet were
equally desirous to see the honour of their nation, in their own sense
of it, restored. Episcopalians, Cavaliers, and Revolutionists, were
unanimous, or, to use the Scots' proverb, "were all one man's bairns."
This state of public feeling was soon communicated to St. Germains, and
Colonel Hooke, famous for his negotiations, was, according to the writer
of the Memoirs, pitched upon by the French King, and palmed upon the
court of St. Germains, and dispatched to sound the intentions of the
principal Scottish nobility. This agent arrived in Scotland in the month
of March, 1707. The paper containing assurances of aid to James Stuart
was signed by sixteen noblemen and gentlemen; but the Earl of Mar was,
at that time, engaged in a very different undertaking, and was in close
amity with Sunderland, Godolphin, and the heads of the Whig party.

The spring of 1708
discovered the designs of Louis, and the news of great preparations at
Dunkirk spread consternation in England. At this juncture, the first in
which the son of James the Second was called upon to play a part in that
drama of which he was the ill-starred hero, the usual fate of his race
befel him. He came to Dunkirk hastily, and in private, intending to pass
over alone to the Firth of Forth. He was attacked by the measles; at a
still more critical moment of his melancholy life, he was the victim of
ague: both of them ignoble diseases, which seem to have little concern
with the affairs of royalty. The delay of the Prince's illness, although
shortened by the peremptory commands of the French King to proceed, was
fatal, for the English fleet had time to make preparations. A storm
drove the French fleet northwards; in the tempest the unfortunate
adventurer passed the Firth of Forth and Aberdeen; and although the
fleet retraced its course to the Isle of May, it was only to flee back
to France, daunted as the French admirals were by the proximity of Si'
George Byng and the English fleet, who chased the enemy along the coasts
of File and Angus. It was shortly after this event that the Pretender,
upon whose head a price of a hundred thousand pounds was set by the
English

Government, first assumed
the title of Chevalier of St. George, in order to spare himself the
expense of field equipage in the campaign in Flanders.

The conduct of the Earl
of Mar, in relation to conspiracy, has been alluded to rather than
declared by historians. He is supposed not to have been, in secret,
unfavourable to the undertaking. He was, nevertheless, active in giving
to the Earl of Sunderland the names of the disaffected with whom he was
generally supposed to be too well acquainted. Many of those who were
suspected were brought to London, and were 111 some instances committed
to prison, in others confined to their own houses. On this occasion the
advice of the great Marlborough was followed, and the guilty were not
proceeded against with inure severity than was necessary for the Queen's
safety. The same generous policy was in after times remembered, in
mournful contrast with a very different spirit.

It was the ill-fortune of
Mar to give satisfaction to none of those who had looked on the course
of public, affairs during the recent transactions; nor was it ever his
good fortune to inspire confidence in his motives. Some notion may be
formed of the thraldom of party in Scotland by the following anecdote:

In 1711-12 the Queen
conferred upon the Duke of Hamilton a patent for an English dukedom; but
this, according to a vote of the House of Lords, did not entitle him to
sit as a British Peer. Indignant at being thought incapable of receiving
a grace which the King might confer on the meanest commoner, the Scotch
Peers took the first opportunity of walking out of the House in a body,
and refusing to vote or sit in that House. In addition to the affront
implied by their incapacity of becoming British Peers, it was more than
hinted that it would not be advisable for the independence of the House;
f the King could confer the privileges of British Peers upon a set of
nobles whose poverty rendered them dependent on the Crown.

Just when this offensive
vote of the House was the theme of general conversation, Dean Swift
encountered the Earl of Mar at Lord Masham's. "I was arguing with him,
(Lord Mar)," he writes, "about the stubbornness and folly of his
countrymen; they are so angry about the affair of the Duke of Hamilton,
whom the Queen has made a Duke of England, and the Lords will not admit
him. He swears he would vote for us, but dare not, because all Scotland
would detest him if he did; he should never be chosen again, nor be able
to live there."

The Earl of Mar continued
to be one of the Representative Peers for Scotland, having been chosen
in 1707, and rechosen at the general elections in 1708.

Upon the death of the
Duke of Queensbury in 1711, the office of Secretary of State for
Scotland became vacant, and the Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of Mar
were rival expectants for the high and important post. Government
hesitated for some time before filling up the post, being disposed
rather to abolish it than to offend any party by its disposal, and
deeming it as an useless expense to the Government; nor was it filled up
for a considerable time.

The tragical death of one
who, with some failings, deserved the affection and respect of his
country, procured eventually to the Earl of Mar the chief management of
public affairs in Scotland. "Whilst on the eve of embarking as
Ambassador Extraordinary to France, upon the conclusion of the peace of
Utrecht, the Duke of Hamilton fell in a duel with his brother-in-law,
Lord Mohun.a man whose course of life had been stained with blood, but
whose crimes had met with a singular impunity.

The character of Lord
Mohun seems rather to have belonged to the reign of Charles the Second,
than to the sober period of William and Anne. The representative of a
very ancient family, he had the misfortune of coming to his title when
young, while his estate was impoverished. " His quality introduced him
into the best company," says a contemporary writer, " but his wants very
often led him into bad." He ran a course of notorious and low
dissipation, and was twice tried for murder before he was twenty. His
first offence was the cruel and almost unprovoked murder of William
Mountford, an accomplished actor, whom Mohun stabbed whilst off bis
guard. The second was the death of Mr. Charles Coote. For these crimes
Lord Mohun had been tried by his peers, and, strange to say, acquitted.
On his last acquittal he spoke gracefully before the Peers, expressing
great contrition for the disgrace which he had brought upon his order,
and promising to efface it by a better course of life. For some time
this able but depraved nobleman kept to his resolution, and studied the
constitution of his country.* lie became a bold and eloquent speaker in
the House 011 the side of the Whigs; and he had attained a considerable
popularity, when the affair with the Duke of Hamilton finished his
career before the age of thirty.

A family dispute,
exasperated by the different sides taken by these two noblemen in
Parliament, was the cause of an event which deprived the Jacobite party
of one of their most valuable and most moderate leaders; for had the
counsels of the Duke of Hamilton prevailed, the Chevalier would never
have undertaken the futile invasion of 1708, nor perhaps have engaged in
the succeeding attempt in 1715. Upon the fortunes of the Earl of Mar,
the death of the Duke so far operated that it was not until all fear of
offending the powerful and popular Hamilton was ended by his tragical
death, that the appointment of Secretary was conferred upon his rival.
The Whigs were calumniously suspected of having had some unfair share.
Swift added, in his own hand, to this eulogium, tins remark: "He was
little better than a conceited talker in company." in the- death of the
Duke,an event which took place in the following manner.

Certain offensive words
spoken by Lord Mohun in the chambers of a Master in Chancery, and
addressed to the Duke of Hamilton, brought a long-standing enmity into
open hostility. On the part of Lord Mohun, General Macartney was sent to
convey a challenge to the Duke, and the place of meeting, time, and
other preliminaries were settled by Macartney and the Duke over a bottle
of claret, at the Rose Tavern, in Covent Garden. The hour of eight on
the following day was fixed for the encounter, and on the fatal morning
the Duke, drove to the lodgings of his friend, Colonel Hamilton, who
acted as his second, in Charing Cross, and hurried him away. It was
afterwards deposed, that on setting out, the Colonel, in his haste,
forgot his sword; upon which the Duke stopped the. carriage, and taking
his keys from his pocket, desired his servant to go to a certain closet
in his house, and to bring his mourning-sword, which was accordingly
done. This was regarded as a fatal omen in those days, in which, as
Addison describes, a belief iu such indications existed.

The Duke then drove on to
that part of Hyde Park leading to Kensington, opposite the Lodge, and
getting out, walked to and fro upon the grass between the two ponds.
Lord Mohun, in the mean time, set out from Long Acre with his friend,
General Macartney, who seems to have been a worthy second of the titled
bravo.

Lord Mohun having taken
the precaution of ordering some burnt wine to be prepared for him upon
his return from the rencounter, proceeded to the place of appointment,
where the Duke awaited him. "I must ask your Lordship," said Lord Mohun,
"one. favour, which is, that these gentlemen may have nothing to do with
our quarrel." "My Lord," answered the Duke, "I leave them to
themselves." The parties then threw off their cloaks, and all engaged;
the seconds, it appears, fighting with as much fury as their principals.
The park-keepers coming up, found Colonel Hamilton and General Macartney
struggling together; the General holding the Colonel's sword in his left
hand, the Colonel pulling at the blade of the General's sword. One of
the keepers went up to the principals: he found Lord Mohun in a position
between sitting and lying, bending towards the Duke, who was on his
knees, leaning almost across Lord Mohun, both holding each other's sword
fast, both striving and struggling with the fury of remorseless hatred.
This awful scene was soon closed for ever, as far as Mohun was
concerned. He expired shortly afterwards, having received four wounds,
each of which was likely to be mortal. The Duke was raised and supported
by Colonel Hamilton and one of the keepers; but after walking about
thirty yards, exclaimed that "he could walk no farther," sank down upon
the grass, and expired. His lifeless remains, mangled with wounds which
showed the relentless fury of the encounter, were conveyed to St.
James's Square, the same morning, while the Duchess was still asleep.

The following letter
shows that the Duke anticipated the result of the duel.

London, Nov. 11, 1712.

My dear Son,

I have been doing all I
could to recover your mother's right to her estate, which I hope shall
be yours. I command you to be dutiful towards her, as I hope she will be
just and kind to you; end I recommend it particularly to you, if ever
you enjoy the estate of Hamilton, and what may, I hope, justly belong to
you, (considering how long I have lived with no small competence, which
has made me run in debt, I hope God will pat it into your head to do
justice to my honour, and pay my just debts. There will be enough to
satisfy all, and give your brothers and sisters such provisions as the
state of your condition and their quality in Scotland will admit of.

I pray, God preserve you,
and the family in your person. My humble duty to my mother, and my
blessing to your sisters. If it please God I live, you shall find me
share with you what I do possess, and ever prove your affectionate and
kind father, whilst Hamilton.

I again upon my blessing
charge you, that you let the world see you do your part in satisfying my
just debts.

Addressed thus: "To my
dear Son the Murquis of Chilsdale."

Lord Mohun, meanwhile,
was carried, by order of General Macartney, to the hackney-coach in
which he had arrived, and his body conveyed to his house in Marlborough
Street, where, it was afterwards reported, that being flung upon the
best bed, his Lady, one of the nieces of Charles Gerrard, Earl of
Macclesfield, expressed great anger at the soiling of her new coverlid,
on which the bleeding corpse was deposited.

General Macartney
escaped. It appeared on oath that he had made a thrust at the Duke, as
he was struggling with Mohun; and it being generally believed that it
was by that wound that the Duke died, an address was presented to her
Majesty by the Scottish Peers, begging that she would write to all the
kings and states in alliance with her, not to shelter Macartney from
justice.

A deep and general grief
was shown for the death of the Duke of Hamilton. In Scotland mourning
was worn, and the churches were hung with black It was in vain that the
Duchess offered a reward of three hundred pounds for the apprehension of
Macartney ; the murderer had fled beyond seas.

The Cavaliers lost, in
Hamilton, an ornament to their party, from the strict honour and
fidelity of his known character. But the crisis which the unfortunate
Duke had in vain endeavoured to avert was now at hand, and the death of
Queen Anne brought with it all those consequences which a long series of
cabals, during the later disturbed years of the Queen's existence, had
been gradually ripening into importance.

The, Earl of Mar had
openly espoused the High-church party in the case of Sacheverel; and he
had on that account, as well as from the doubt generally entertained of
his fidelity, little reason to expect, from the House of Hanover a
continuance in office. No sooner had the Queen expired, than those whom
Lord Mar had long, in secret, been regarding with interest, expressed
openly their disappointment at the result of the last reign.

"The accession of George
the First," remarks Dr. Coxe, "was a new era in the history of that
Government which was established at the Revolution. Under William and
Anne the Stuart family can scarcely be considered as absolutely excluded
from the throne; for all parties, except the extreme Whigs, looked
forward to the possibility of the Stuarts returning to the throne. But,
in fact, the Revolution was not completed till the actual establishment
of the Brunswick line, which cut off all hopes of a return without a new
revolution."

When the news of Queen
Anne's dangerous condition reached the Chevalier de St. George, he was
at Luneville; but he repaired instantly to Barleduc, where he held a
council. As he entered the council-chamber, he was heard to exclaim, "If
that Princess dies, I am lost." There was no doubt that a correspondence
with the exiled family had been carried on with great alacrity, during
the last few years of Queen Anne's reign, with the cognizance of the
Sovereign and that large sums were spent by Mary of Modem, and by her
son, in procuring intelligence of all that was going on in the English
Court.

Immediately after the
Queen's death, Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, proposed to Lord
Bolingbroke to proclaim James at Charing Cross, and offered, himself, to
head the procession in lawn sleeves. But Bolingbroke shrank from the
enterprise; and, with an exclamation of passion, Atterbury exclaimed,
"There is the best cause in Europe lost for want of spirit." The
boldness of the proposition, and the ancient temper from which it
originated, recall, with regret, the remembrance of one who, as Lord
Hailes in his notes on Atterbury's Correspondence has remarked, was
"incapable of dark conspiracies."

The Chevalier was then
residing at Barledue, with a suite of sixty persons; some of whom
boasted of having taken part in the conspiracies against William the
Third, arid were proud of having compassed the death of that Sovereign.
From time to time, Englishmen of distinction travelled from Paris to
Bois-leduc, mider pretext of seeing the country, but in fact to proffer
a secret allegiance to the Prince. The individual to whom these
attentions were addressed, is described by an anonymous emissary of the
English Court, as leading a regular life,hunting when the the Earl of
Mar and his brother. Lord Grange, were now the two most considerable men
in Scotland. Lord Grange had been made Lord of Session in 1707, and
afterwards Lord Justice Clerk, during the three last years of Queen
Anne's reign. His character presents traits even more repulsive and more
dangerous than the time-serving and duplicity of the Earl of Mar. Lord
Grange was one of those men whom the honest adherents to either party
would, doubtless, gladly have turned over to the other side. His
abilities, if we judge of the high appointments which he held, must have
been eminent; but he was devoid of all principle, and was capable, if
the melancholy and extraordinary history of his unhappy wife be true, of
the darkest schemes.

It would he difficult to
reconcile, in any other man, the discrepancy of Lord Grange's real
opinions and of his subsequent efforts to restore the House of Stuart;
hut, in a brother of the Earl of Mar, the difficulty ceases, and all
hopes of consistency, or rather of its origin, sincerity, vanish. Lord
Grange is declared to have been a "true blue republican, and, if he had
any religion, at bottom a Presbyterian;" yet he was deeply involved in
transactions with the Chevalier and his friends.*

Lord Grange was united to
a lady violent in temper, of a dauntless spirit, and a determined
Hanoverian. Their marriage had been enforced by the laws of honour, and
was ill-omened from the first; therefore, where respect has ceased,
affection soon languishes and expires. The daughter of Cheisly of Dairy,
a man of uncontrolled passions, who shot Sir George Lock-hart, one of
the Lords of Sess;on, for having decided a law-suit against him, Mrs.
Erskine of Grange, commonly called Ladv Grange, inherited the determined
v; ill of her father. It was said that she had compelled Lord Grange to
do her justice by marrying her, and H had desired him to lemember, by
way of threat, that she was Cheisly's daughter.'' For this menace she
suffered in a way which could only be effected in a country like
Scotland at that period, and among a people held in the thraldom of the
clans. Her singular history belongs to a later period in the annals of
those events in which so much domestic happiness was blasted, never to
be recovered. With his brother, Lord Mar was in constant correspondence,
during his own residence in London; and although Lord Grange was skilful
enough to conceal his machinations, and to retain his seat on the bench
as a Scottish judge, there is very little reason to doubt his secret
co-operation i.i the subsequent movements of the Earl.

Acting as if ''he thought
that all things were governed by fate or fortune,"! George the First
remained a long time to settle his own affairs in Hanover, before coming
to England. This delay was employed by the Earl of Mar, in an endeavour
to extenuate the tenor of his political conduct of late years in the
eyes of the Sovereign, and In placing before the King the merit of his
services and his claims to favour. The letter which he addressed to
George the First, when in Holland, was printed by Tonson, during the
year 1715, with prefatory remarks by Sir Richard Steele, whose comments
upon this production of a man who, scarcely a year after it was written,
set up the standard of the Pretender at Braemar, are expressed in these
terms:

"It gives me. a lively
sense of the hardships of civil war, wherein all the sacred and most
intimate obligations between man and man are to be torn asunder, when I
cannot, without pain, represent to myself the behaviour of Lord Mar,
with whom I had not even the honour of any further commerce than the
pleasure of passing some agreeable hours in his company: I say, when
even such little incidents make it irksome to be in a state of war with
those with whom we have lived in any degree of familiarity, how terrible
must the image be of rending the ties of blood, the sanctity of affinity
and intermarriage, and the bringing men who, perhaps in a few months
before, were to each other the dearest of all mankind, to meet on terms
of giving death to each other at the same time that they had rather
embrace !" Thus premising, and declaring that he could with difficulty
efface from his mind all remains of good will and pity to Lord Mar, Sir
Richard Steele subjoins a document, fatal to the reputation of Lord
Marthe following letter, which Lord Mar addressed to the King, in
explanation of his conduct.

Lord Mar to the King.

"Sir,

"Having the happiness to
be your Majesty's subject, and. also the honour of being of your
servants, as one of your Secretaries of State, I beg leave by this to
kiss your Majesty's hand, and congratulate your happy accession to the
Throne; which I should have done myself the honour of doing sooner, had
I not hoped to have had the honour of doing personally ere now. I am
afraid I may have had the misfortune to he misrepresented to your
Majesty, and my reason for thinking so is, because 1 was the only one of
the late Queen's servants whom your Ministers here did not visit, which
I mentioned to Mr. Ilarley and the Earl of Clarendon, when they went
from hence to wait on your Majesty; and your Ministers carrying so to me
was the occasion of my receiving such orders as deprived me of the
honour and satisfaction of waiting on them and being known to them. I
suppose I had been misrepresented to them by some here upon account of
party, or to ingratiate themselves by aspersing others, as one party
here too often occasion; but 1 hope your Majesty -will be so just as not
to give credit to such misrepresentations.

"The part I acted in
bringing about and making of the Union when the succession to the Crown
was settled for Scotland on your Majesty's famiiy, when I had the honour
to serve as Secretary of State for that kingdom, doth, I hope, put my
sincerity and faithfulness to your Majesty out of dispute. My family had
had the honour for a great tract of years to be faithful servants to the
Crown, and have had the care of the King's children (when King of
Scotland) entrusted to them. A predecessor of mine was honoured with the
care of your Majesty's grandmother, when young; and she was pleased
afterwards to express some concern for our family, in letters I now have
under her own hand.

"I have had the honour to
serve her late Majesty in one capacity or other ever since her accession
to the Crown. I was happy iu a good mistress, and she was pleased to
have some confidence in me and regard for my services. And since your
Majesty's happy accession to the Crown, I hope you will find that I have
not been wanting in my duty iu being instrumental in keeping things
quiet and peaceable iu the country to which I belong and have some
interest in.

"Your Majesty shall ever
find me as faithful and dutiful a subject and servant as ever any of my
family have been to the Crown, or as I have been to my late mistress the
Queen. And I beg your Majesty may be so good not to believe any
misrepresentations of me, which nothing but party hatred and my zeal for
the interest of the Crown doth occasion; ami I hope I may presume to lay
claim to your royal favour or protection. As your accession to the Crown
hath been quiet and peaceable, may your Majesty's reign be long and
prosperous; and that your people may soon have the happiness and
satisfaction of your presence amongst them, is the earnest and fervent
wish of him who is, with the humblest duty and respect, Sir, your
Majesty's most faithful, most dutiful and most obedient subject and
servant, Mae."

"Whitehall, August
thirtieth, 1714, o. s."

This disgraceful letter
was ineffectual. The Monarch, "whose views and affections were,
according to Lord Chesterfield, singly confined to the narrow compass of
his Electorate," and for "whom England was too big," acted with a
promptness and decision which gave no time for the workings of faction.
An immediate change of ministry was announced by Kryenberg, the
Hanoverian resident, at the first Privy Council; and among other
changes, Lord Townshend was appointed in the place of Lord Bolingbroke.
Well might Bolingbroke exclaim, "The grief of my soul is this; t see
plainly that the Tory party is gone."

For many months Lord Mar
continued to maintain such a demeanour as might blind those of the
opposite party to his real Intentions. It seems, indeed, certain that at
first he hoped to ensure a continuance m office by exerting his
influence in Scotland to procure the good conduct of the clans: he was
successful in obtaining even from some of those Highland chieftains who
were afterwards the most deeply implicated in the Rebellion, an address
declaring that they were ready to concur with his Lordship in faithfully
serving King George. "Your Lordship," states that memorial, "has an
estate and interest in the Highlands, and is so well known to bear good
will to your neighbours, that in order to prevent any impression which
malicious and designing people may at this juncture labour to give of
us, we must beg leave to address your Lordship, and entreat you to
assure the Government, on our names, and in that of the rest of our
clans, who, by distance of the place, could not he present at the
signing of our letter, of our loyalty to his sacred Majesty, King
George." This address was signed by Maclean of that Ilk, Macdonald of
Glengary, Mackenzie of Fraseruale, Cameron of Lochiel, and by several
other chiefs of clans, who afterwards fought under the banners of the
Earl of Mar. It furnishes a proof of the great influence which the Earl
possessed in his own country, but he had not the courage to present it
to the King. His Majesty, on the contrary, on hearing of this address,
was highly offended, believing that it had been drawn up at St. Germains
in order to insult him, and his refusal to receive it was accompanied by
an order to Lord Mar to give up the seals.

The Earl lingered,
nevertheless, for some time in London, where he had now some attractions
which to a less ambitious mind might have operated in favour of
prudence. In the preceding year, July, 1714, he had married, at Acton m
Middlesex, the Lady Frances Fierrepoint, the second daughter of Evelyn,
first Duke of Kingston, and the sister of Lady Mary Wortley. The
Countess of Mar was, at the time of her marriage, thirty-three years of
age, being born in ltl8l. She does not appear to have been endowed with
the rare qualities of her sister's mind; but that she was attached to
her husband, her long exile from England on his account, sufficiently
proves. Her married life was embittered by his career, and her latter
days darkened by the direst of all maladies, mental aberration.

It is singular that so
recently before his final effort, Lord Mar should have connected himself
with a Whig family. The Marquis of Dorchester, who was created, by
George the First, Duke of Kingston, was a member of the Kit Cat Club,
and received early proofs of the good will of the Hanoverian Sovereign.
It is true that Lady Mary Wortley augured ill of the match between her
sister and Lord Mar, detesting as she did the Jacobite party, and
believing that her sister was "drawn in by the persuasion of an
officious female friend," Lord Mar's relation. But there is no reason to
conclude that the Duke of Kingston in any way objected to a match
apparently so dissonant with his political bias.

"Whilst Lord Mar remained
near the court, the discoveries made by the Earl of Stair in France,
communicated the first surmise of an intended invasion of England.
Several seizures of suspected people warned one who was deep in the
intrigues of St. Germain, not long to delay the open prosecution of his
schemes. The melancholy instance of Mr. Harvey, who was apprehended
while he was haw king at Combe, in Surrey, alarmed the Jacobite party.
Mr. Harvey being shown a paper written in his own hand, convicting him
of guilt, stabbed himself, but not fatally, with a pruning-knife which
he had used in his garden.

Upon some hope of his
confessing being hinted, it was answered that his Majesty and the
Council knew more of it than he did. The celebrated John Anstis, the
heraldic writer, was also apprehended, and warrants were issued for the
seizure of other suspected persons.

Notwithstanding his
strong family interest, the Earl of Mar could scarcely consider himself
secure under the present state both of the country and the metropolis.
The events of the last year had succeeded each other with an appalling
rapidity. The flight of Bolingbroke had scarcely ceased to be the theme
of comment, before the general elections excited all the ill blood and
fanaticism which such struggles at any critical era of our history have
always produced. Riots, which have been hastily touched upon in the
histories of the period, but which the minute descriptions of memoirs of
that period show to have been attended with an unusual display of
violence and brutality on both sides, broke out upon every anniversary
which could recall the Stuarts to recollection. On St. George's day, :n
compliment to the Chevalier, who, according to an observer of those
eventful days, "had assumed the name of that far-famed Cappadocian
Knight, though every one knew he has nothing of the valour, courage, and
other bright qualities of the saint," a tumult was raised in London, and
among other outrages, passengers through the streets of the City were,
beaten if they would not cry "God bless the late Queen and the High
Church!" Sacheverel and Bolingbroke were pledged in bumpers by a mob,
who burnt, at the same time, King William in effigy. A similar contagion
spread throughout the country; Oxford took the lead in acts of
destruction; her streets were filled with parties of Whigs and Tories,
both of them infuriated, until their mad rage vented itself in acts of
murder, under the pretence, on the one hand, of a dread of popery, on
the other, on a similar plea of religious zeal. A Presbyterian
meetinghouse was pulled down, and cries of "An Ormondl" "A Bolingbroke!"
"Down with the Roundheads!" "No Hanover!" "A new Restoration"
accompanied the conflagration. On the same day similar exclamations were
again heard in the streets of London; and all windows not illuminated
were broken to pieces. The tenth of June, the anniversary of the
Chevalier's birthday, was the signal for a still more decisive
manifestation. On that day three Scottish magistrates went bodily to the
Cross at Dundee, and there drank the Pretender's health, by the name of
King James the Eighth, for which they were immediately apprehended and
tried.

The impeachment of Lord
Oxford still further exasperated the country, which rang with the cry, "
No George, but a Stuart." The peaceable accession of the first monarch
of the Brunswick line has been greatly insisted upon by historians; but
that stillness was ominous; it was the stillness of the air before a
storm; and was only indicative of irresolution, not of a diminished
dislike to the sway of a foreigner.

It is supposed that an
intercepted letter which the Duke de Berwick, the half brother of the
Chevalier, addressed to a person of distinction in England, first gave
the intelligence of an intended invasion." The burden of that letter was
to encourage the riots and tumults, and to keep up the spirits of the
people with a promise of prompt assistance The impeachment of Yiscouut
Bolingbroke and of the Duke of Ormond followed shortly afterwards; and
although these noblemen provided for their own safety by ilight, they
were degraded as outlaws, and in the order in Council were styled,
according to the usual form of law, "James Butler, yeoman," and "Henry
Bolingbroke, labourer," and the arms of Ormond were taken from Windsor
Chapel, and torn in pieces by the Earl Marshal.

The English fleet, under
the command of Sir George Byng, was stationed in the Downs, in case of a
surprise. Portsmouth was put in a state of defence; and, during the
month of July, the inhabitants of London beheld once more a sight such
as had never been witnessed by its citizens since the days of the Great
Rebellion. In Hyde Park the troops of the household were encamped,
according to the arrangements of General Cadogan, who had marked out a
camp. The forces were, commanded by the Duke of Argyle. In Westminster
the Earl of Clare reviewed the militia, and the trained hands were
directed to he in readiness for orders. At the same time fourteen
colonels of the Guards, and other inferior officers, were cashiered by
the King's orders, on suspicion of being in James Stuart's interest; so
deep a root hail this cause, which many have pretended to treat as a
visionary scheme of self-interest, taken in the affections even of the
British army.

A proclamation ordering
all Papists and reputed Papists to depart from the cities of London and
Westminster, was the next act of the Government. All persons of the
lloman Catholic persuasion were to be disarmed and their horses sold; a
declaration against transubstantiation was to be administered to them,
and the oath of abjuration to non-jurors. After such mandates, it seems
idle to talk of the tyranny of Henry the Eighth.

There is no doubt but
that the greatest alarm and consternation reigned at St. James's. The
stocks fell, but owing to the vigilance of the Ministry, information was
obtained of the whole scheme of the invasion, in a manner which to this
day has never been satisfactorily explained.

The Earl of Mar must have
trembled, as he still lingered in the metropolis. It is probable that he
waited there n order to receive those contributions from abroad which
were necessary to carry on his plans. He was provided at last with no
less a sum than a hundred thousand pounds; and also furnished with a
commission dated the seventh of September, 1715, appointing him
Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief of the forces raised for the
Chevalier 'n Scotland.6 Large sums were already
collected from Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and France, to the amount,
it has been stated, of twelve millions. It has been well remarked by Sir
Walter Scott, in his notes on the Master of Sinclair's MS., that "when
the Stuarts had the means, they wanted a leader (as in 1715); when (as
in 1715) they had a leader, they wanted the means."

With the eye of suspicion
fixed upon him, his plans matured, his friends in the north prepared,
the. Earl of Mar had the hardihood, under such circumstances, to appear
at the court of King George. A few weeks before the Habeas Corpus Act
had been suspended; but the Earl trusted either to good fortune, or to
his own well-known arts of insinuation. He braved all possibility of
detection, and determined to carry on the game of deep dissimulation to
the last moment.

On the first of August,
1715, the Earl of Mar attended the levee of K:ng George. One can easily
suppose how cold, if not disdainful, must have been his reception; but
it is not easy to divine with what secret emotions, the subject on the
eve of an insurrection could have offered his obeisance to the Monarch.
Grave in expression, with a heavy German countenance, hating all show,
and husbanding his time, so as to avoid all needless conversation;
without an idea of cultivating the fine arts, of encouraging literature,
or of even learning to speak English, George the First must have
presented to his English subjects the reverse of all that is attractive.
A decided respectability of character might have redeemed the ungainly
picture; but, although esteemed a man of honour, and evincing liberal
and even benevolent tendencies, the Monarch displayed not only an
unblushing and scandalous profligacy, but a love for coarse and unworthy
society. Ilis court is said to have been modelled upon that of Louis the
Fifteenth; but it was modelled upon the grossest and lowest principles
only, and had none of the elegance even of that wretched King's depraved
circles; and public decency was as much outraged by the three yachts
which were prepared to carry over King George's mistresses and their
suite, when he visited Ilanover, as by the empire of Madame de
Pompadour. It must, independent of every other consideration, have been
galling to Englishmen to behold, seated on their throne, a German,
fifty-four years of age, who from that very circumstance, was little
likely ever to boast, like Queen Anne, "of an English heart." "A hard
fate," observes a writer of great impartiality, "that the enthronement
of a stranger should have been the only means to secure our liberties
and Iaws."

A week after he had been
received at the levee of King George, the Earl embarked at Gravesend in
a collier, attended by two servants, and accompanied by General Hamilton
and Captain Hay. They were all disguised, and escaping detection,
arrived on the third day afterwards at Newcastle. It has been even said,
that in order the better to conceal his rank, the Earl of Mar wrought
for his passage. From Newcastle Lord Mar proceeded northward in another
vessel; and landing at Elie, Fifeshire, went first to Crieff, where he
remained a few days. lie then proceeded to Dupplin, in the county of
Perth, the seat of his brother-in-law, the Earl of Kinnoul, and thence,
on the eighteenth of August, crossing the river Perth, he proceeded to
his own Castle of Inverdruminie, in the Braes of Mar. He was accompanied
by forty horse.

On the day after the
arrival of the Earl at lnverdrummie, he despatched letters to the
principal Jacobites, inviting them to attend a grand hunting-match in
Braemar on the twenty-seventh of August. This summons was couched in
this form, for fear of a more explicit declaration being intercepted,
revealing the design; but the great chiefs who were thus collected
together were aware that Y hunting" was but the watchword.

A gallant band of
high-spirited chieftains answered the call. It is consolatory to turn to
those who, unaffected by the intrigues of a Court, came heartily, and
with a disinterested love, to the cause of which the Earl of Mar was the
unworthy leader.

First in rank, was the
Marquis of Huntlv, eldest son of George, the first Duke of Gordon, and
of that daring Duchess of Gordon, a daughter of the house of Howard,
who, in 2 711, had presented to the Dean and Faculty of Advocates in
Edinburgh a silver medal, with the head of the Chevalier on one side,
and on the other the British Islands, with the word "Beddite." The
learned body to whom the Duchess had proposed this dangerous gift, at
first hesitated to receive it: after a debate, however, among their
members, it was agreed that the donation should be accepted, and a vote
was passed to return thanks to the Duchess. The Advocates then waited iu
a, body upon the Duchess, and expressed their hopes that her Grace would
soon have occasion to present the Faculty with a second medal on the
Restoration.* The Duke of Gordon, notwithstanding his having been
brought up a Roman Catholic, was neutral in the troubles of the
Rebellion of 1715, but his son took a force of three thousand men into
the field,the clan siding with the young Marquis rather than with their
chief. The Marquis of Huntly was, probably for that reason, spared n the
subsequent proceedings against the Jacobites, his participation in their
schemes being punished only by a brief imprisonment.

"William Marquis of
Tullibardine, one of the most constant friends to the House of Stuart,
the Earl of Nithisdale, and the Earl Marischal, also appeared at the
time appointed. It was the fortune of the Marquis of Tullibardine, like
that of the Marquis of Huntly, afterwards to appear in the field
unsanctioned by his father, the Duke of Athol, who either was, or
appeared to he, in favour of Government, whilst his son headed the clan
to the number of six thousand. Lord Nairn, the younger brother of the
Marquis, also joined in the undertaking. Of these distinguished
Jacobites, separate lives will hereafter be given in this work: it
therefore becomes unnecessary any further to expatiate upon them here.
Of some, whose biography does not present features sufficiently marked
to constitute a distinct narrative, some traits may here be given.

Charles Earl of Traquair,
who hastened to Brae-mar, was one of those Scottish nobles who claimed
kindred with royalty, lie was descended from Sir James Stewart, commonly
called the Black Knight of Lorn, and from Jane, daughter of John Earl of
Somerset, and widow of King James the First. One of Lord Traquair's
ancestors, the first Earl, had levied a regiment of horse, in order to
release Charles the First from his imprisonment in the Isle of Wight;
but, marching at the head of it at the battle of Preston, he and his
son, Lord Seatoun, were taken prisoners and conveyed to "Warwick Castle,
where they languished four years in imprisonment, with the knowledge
that their estates had been sequestered.

Connected with the family
of Seatoun, on his mother's side, the Earl of Traquair had married the
sister of Lord Nithisdale, being thus nearly related to two of those
chiefs who gladly obeyed the summons of Lord Mar to the hunting-field.
The Earl of Traquair appears to have escaped all the penalties which
followed the Rebellion of 1715, perhaps because he does not appear to
have taken any of his tenantry into the field.

Less prudent, or less
fortunate, William Mackenzie, Earl of Seaforth, joined the standard of
James Stuart with a body of three thousand men. He was attainted when
the struggle was over, and his estates, both in Scotland and England,
forfeited. He escaped to the Continent; but, in 1719, again landed with
the Spaniards at Kintail; and was wounded at the battle of Glenshiels,
but being carried off by his followers, again fled to the Continent,
with the Marquis of Tullibardine and the Earl Marischal. Lord Seaforth
was one of those to whom the royal mercy was shown. George the First
reversed his attainder, and George the Second granted him arrears of the
few duties due to the Crown out of the forfeited estates. The title has
been eventually restored.

James Livingstone, Earl
of Linlithgow, was amongst the many who experienced less clemency than
the Earl of Traquair. He had been chosen one of the sixteen
representative peers of Scotland, on the death of the Duke of Hamilton;
and enjoyed the possession of considerable family estates, which were
eventually forfeited to the Crown. He led a band of three hundred
clansmen to the field.

Perhaps one of the most
sturdy adherents of the Chevalier St. George was James Maule, fourth
Earl of Panmure. In his youth this nobleman had served as a volunteer at
the siege of Luxembourg, where he had signalized his courage. In 1686,
he succeeded his brother, and added to the honours of a peerage those of
a character already established for bravery. To these distinctions was
added that of being a Privy Councillor to James the Second; but he was
removed upon his opposing the abrogation of the penal laws against
Popery. Whilst thus protesting against what might then be deemed
objectionable innovations, Lord Panmure was a firm adherent of James,
and vigorously supported his interests in the convention of estates in
1689.

The accession of William
and Mary drove this true Jacobite from the Scottish Parliament. He never
appeared in that assembly after that event, having refused to take the
oaths. Of course he disapproved of the Union; and the next step which he
took was to join the standard of the Chevalier.

After that decisive
proceeding, the course of this unfortunate nobleman's life was one of
misfortune, in which his high spirit was sustained by a constancy of no
ordinary character. At the battle of Sherriff Muir, the brave Panmure.
was taken prisoner, but was rescued by his brother Harry, who, like
himself, had engaged in the rebellion. Panmure escaped to France: he was
attainted of high treason,his estates, which amounted to 3456/. per
annum, and were the largest of the confiscated properties, were
forfeited, as well as his hereditary honours. Twice were offers made to
him by the English Government to restore his rank and possessions, if he
would take the oath of allegiance to the House of Hanover; but Panmure
refused the proffered boon, and preferred sharing the fortunes of him
whom he looked upon as his legitimate Prince. When he joined the
Jacobites at Braemar, Lord Panmure was no longer a young, rash man: he
was in the sixty-fifth year of his age. His wife, the daughter of
"William Duke of Hamilton, was, after his attainder, provided for by act
of Parliament in the same manner as if she had been a widow. His
brother, Harry Maule, of Keilie, a man of considerable accomplishments,
was so fortunate as to be enabled to return to his native country, and
died in Edinburgh in 1734. But Lord Panmure, like most of the other
brave and honest men who preferred their allegiance to their interest,
finished his days in exile, and died at Paris, in 1723.

Kenneth Lord Duffus was
another of those noblemen who had already established a character for
personal bravery. He was a person of great skill in maritime affairs,
and was promoted by Queen Anne to the command of the Advice ship of war,
with which, in 1711, this gallant Highlander engaged eight French
privateers, and after a desperate resistance of some hours, be was taken
prisoner, after receiving five balls in his body.

He was, however, released
in time to engage in the Rebellion of 1715; and though it does not
appear that he took any followers to fight beneath the Chevalier's
standard, he was included in the Act of Attainder. The intelligence was
communicated to Lord Duffus when he was in Sweden. He resolved
immediately to surrender himself to the British Government, and declared
his intention to the British Minister at Stockholm, who notified it to
Lord Townshend, Secretary of State. Notwithstanding this manly
determination, Lord Duffus was arrested on his way to England, at
Hamburgh, and was detained there until the time specified for
surrendering had expired. He thence proceeded to London, where he was
confined more than a year in the Tower, but released in 1717, without
being brought to trial. Lord Duifus died, according to some accounts, in
the Russian service; to others, in that of France. He married a Swedish
lady, and attained to the rank of Admiral.

Such were some of those
Jacobite chieftains whose history has sunk into obscurity, partly from
the difficulty of obtaining information concerning their career, after
the contest was at an end. Amongst those who met Lord Mar in the
bunring-field, but who afterwards became neutral, although most of his
clan joined in the Rebellion, was the Earl of Errol, one of a family
whose fame for valour was dated from the time of the Danish invasion.
The origin of the House of Errol is curious, and marks the simplicity of
the times. An aged countryman, named Hay, and his sons, had arrested the
progress of the ruthless conquerors in a defile near Lanearty in
Perthshire. The old man was rewarded by Kenneth the Third with as much
land in the Carse of Gowrie as a falcon from a man's hand flew over
until she lighted. The bird flew over a space of six miles, which was
thence called Errol, and which is still in possession of the family; and
the old man and his sons were raised from the rank of plebeians by the
assignment of a coat of arms, on which were three escutcheons, gules, to
denote that the father and the two sons had been the shields of
Scotland. The family grew in wealth and estimation, and the office of
Hereditary High Constable of Scotland was added to their other honours.

The Countess of Errol,
the mother of the High Constable, and sister of the Earl of Perth, had
already taken a decided part in the affairs of the Jacobite party. When
Colonel Hooke had been sent over in 1707 to Scotland, she had met him at
the sea-coast, and had there placed in the hands of that emissary
several letters from her son, expressing his earnest intention to
support the cause of the Chevalier. The Earl of Errol had also received
Hooke at his castle, and had entertained him there several days, and
employed that time in initiating Hooke into the various characteristics
and views of the Jacobite nobility in Scotland. lie was thus deeply
pledged to aid the undertaking at that time (the year 1707); and in a
letter to the Chevalier, the Earl expressed his hopes that he might have
the happiness of seeing his Majesty, "a happiness for which," he adds,
''we have long sighed, to be delivered from oppression." The Countess of
Errol also addressed a letter to the mother of James Stuart, as the
Queen of England, declaring that the delays which the Scotch had
suffered had not "diminished their zeal, although they had prolonged
their miseries and misfortunes." Whether, upon the rising in 1715, the
views of Lord Errol were altered, or that female influence had been
lessened by some circumstance, does not exactly appear. He kept himself
neutral in the subsequent outbreak, notwithstanding his appearance at
Braemar, and although his clan were for the most part against the
Government. The Earl of Errol died, unmarried in 1717: his adherence to
his Jacobite principles were not, therefore, put to the test in 1745.

To these noblemen were
united Seaton, Viscount of Kingston, whose estates were forfeited to the
Crown; Irvingstone Viscount of Kilsyth, one of the representative peers,
who died an exile at Rome in 1733; Lord Balfour of Burleigh; Lord
Ogilvy, afterwards Earl of Airly, and Forbes, Lord Pitsligo. This
last-mentioned nobleman was a man of a grave and prudent character,
whose example drew many of his neighbours to embark in an enterprise in
which so discreet a person risked his honours and estate. lie was the
author of essays, moral and philosophical.* and either from respect to
Ids merits, or from some less worthy cause, his defection in 1715 passed
with impunity. 15ut, in 1745, the aged nobleman again appeared in the
field, 5nfirm as he was: and one of the most pleasing traits iu Charles
Edward's noble, yet faulty character was his walking at the head of his
forces, having given up his carriage for the use of this tried adherent
of his father. Attainder and forfeiture followed this last attempt, but
the sentence was reversed by the Court of Session, from a misnomer in
the attainder; and the venerable Lord Forbes, surviving many who had set
out on the same course with him, had the comfort of breathing his last
in his native country. He died at Auchiries in Aberdeenshire, in 1762.

Several of these noblemen
had been long contemplating the possibility of James's return to
Scotland. Like the Earl of Errol, they had been dissatisfied with the
prudence of the Duke of Hamilton, whose policy it had been to postpone
the risk of a precarious undertaking, arid whose foresight was
acknowledged when it was too late. Lord John Drummond, Lord Kilsyth, and
Lord Linlithgow, had been all deeply concerned in the schemes and
speculations which had been formed in 1707, on the subject of the
Restoration; but the zeal of Lord Kilsyth had been doubted, from his
intimacy with the Duke of Hamilton, who was then objectionable to the
violent Jacobite leaders.

These chieftains were not
unworthy to come into the same field with Tullibardine, Nithisdale,
Marischal, and their brave associates. A still nobler band of associates
was formed in the different members of the house of Drummond, a family
who could boast of being derived from the ancient nobility of the
kingdom of Hungary: and from the daughters of whose house Charles the
Second was lineally descended in the ninth and sixth degree. Well may it
be called "the splendid family of Drummond," even if we regard only its
proud antiquity, or the singular "faithfulness of the family, or the
accomplishments and \irtues which characterised many of its members."
Nothing can be finer than the manner in which the claims of birth are
placed before us, iu the address of William Drummond of Hawthornden to
"John Earle of Perthe," in his manuscript "Historic of the Familie of
Perthe:" "Though, as Glaucus sayes to Diomed (in Homer), ' Like the race
of leaves The race of wan is, that deserves no question: nor reccaves
his being any other breath; the wiord in autumn strowes The earth with
old leaves; then the spring the woods with new endowes,' yet I have ever
thought the knowledge of kindred and genealogies of the ancient families
of a country a matter so far from contempt, that it deserveth highest
praise. Herein consisteth a part of the knowledge of a man's own selfe.
It is a great spurr to vertue to look hark on the worth of our line. In
this is the memory of the dead preserved with the living, heing more
firm and honourable than any epitaph. The living know that hand which
tyeth them to others. By this man is distinguished from the reasonless
creatures, and the noble of men from the base sort. For it often falleth
out (though we cannot tell how) for the most part, that generositie
followeth good birth and parentage.''"5' The two members of the Drummond
family who attended Lord Mar in his famous hunting-field were James Earl
of Forth, and "William Drummond, Yiscount Strathallan.

The Earls of Southesk and
Carnwath, the Viscounts Kenmure and Stormont, and the Lord Rollo,
complete the list of Scottish peers who were present on this memorable
occasion. But perhaps the more remarkable feature of the hunting-match
was the arrival of twenty-six gentlemen of influence in the Highlands,
men of sway and importance, of which it is impossible, without a
knowledge of Highland manners, to form an adequate notion. The
constitution of the clans is thus pourtrayed by one who knew it well.

"In every narrow vale
where a blue stream bent its narrow course, some hunter of superior
prowess, or some herdsman whom wealth had led to wealth and power to
power, was the founder of a little community who ever after looked up to
the head of the family as their leader and their chief. Those chains of
mountains which formed the boundings of their separate districts had
then their ascents covered with forests, which were the scene of their
hunting-excursions : when their eagerness in pursuit of game led them to
penetrate into the districts claimed by the chief of the neighbouring
valleys, a rash encounter was the usual consequence, which laid the
foundation of future hostilities."

These petty wars gave
room for a display of valour in the chiefs, and led to a mutual
dependence from the followers. Alliances offensive and defensive were
formed among the clans, and intermarriages were contracted between the
confederated clans, who governed their followers by a kind of polity not
ill regulated. The chief hail the power of life and death over his large
family, but it was a power seldom used. A chieftain might be cruel to
his enemies, but never to his friends. Nor were those paternal rulers by
any means so despotic as they have been represented to be; of all
monarchs their power was the most limited, being allowed to take no step
without permission of then* friends, or the elders of their tribe,
including the most distant branches of their family. The kind and
conciliatory system adopted towards their clansmen accounts for the warm
attachment and fidelity displayed towards their chiefs; and these
sentiments were heightened to enthusiasm by the songs and traditions of
the bards, in which the exploits of their heroes were perpetuated. Still
there is nothing, as it has been justly said, so remarkable iu the
political history of any country, as the succession of the Highland
chiefs, and the long and uninterrupted sway which they held over their
followers. The system of clanship gives all the romantic interest which
the Rebellions of 1715 and 1745 inspire; it perfects a picture which
would only otherwise be a factious contention for power ; it was
annihilated only after the last of the Stuarts had lied for ever from
the mountains of Scotland.

It was at the head of the
clans that the Earl of Mar frequently placed himself, at the battle of
Sherriif Muir: he now welcomed their chieftains to the field. Among
these were General Hamilton, General Gordon, Glengary, Campbell of
Glendarvel, and the lairds of Auchterhouse and Aldebar.

So great an assembly of
those whom the Chevalier afterwards not inaptly termed " little kings,"
was by no means unusual at that period. It was the custom among the
lords and chieftains In the Highlands to invite their neighbours and
vassals to a general rendezvous to chase the deer upon the mountains,
and after the diversion was over, to entertain the persons of note in
the castle hall. This expedient would, therefore, have excited but
little attention, had it not been for several years the practice of the
Jacobites to hold these hunting-parties annually', in order to maintain
the spirit of the association, which had been carried on since the peace
of Utrecht.

The halls of lvildrummie
received the noblemen and chieftains that day beneath its roof, and the
Earl of Mar addressed his guests in a long, premeditated harangue. He is
described as having little pretension to eloquence; but his hearers were
probably not very fastidious judges, and from the influence which the
Earl acquired over those whom he led on to the contest, .t maybe
inferred that he understood well how to address himself to the passions
of a Highland audience.

At first the Earl was
heard with distrust,at least if we may credit the account of one on
whom, perhaps, too great a reliance has been placed.

"It is true, that at
first," says Mr. Patten, "he gained little or no credit among them, they
suspecting some piece of policy in him to ensnare them ; but some were
weak enough to suck in the poison, and particularly some of those who
were with him at his house, called Rrae-Mar. These, listening to him,
embraced his project, and, as is reported, engaged by oath to stand by
him and one another, and to bring over their friends and dependants to
do the like."

The Earl began hi?<
harangue by expressing a deep regret for having promoted the Union,
which had delivered his countrymen into the hands of the English, whose
power to enslave them was far too great, and whose intentions to do so
still further were manifest from the proceedings of the Elector of
Hanover ever since he ascended the throne. That Prince regarded,
according to Lord Mar, neither the welfare of his people, nor their
religion, but solely left the management of affairs to a set of men who
made encroachments in Church and State. Many persons, he said, were now
resolved to consult their own safety, and determined to defend their
liberties and properties, and to establish on the throne of these realms
the Chevalier St. George, who had the only undoubted right to the Crown,
who would hear their grievances, and redress their wrongs. He then
incited his hearers to take arms for the Chevalier, under the title of
King James the Seventh; and told them, that for his part, he was
determined to set up his standard and to summon all the fencible men of
his own tenants, and with them to hazard his life in the cause. To this
declaration he added the assurance, that a general rising in England and
assistance from France would aid their undertaking; that thousands were
in league and covenant with him to establish the Chevalier and depose
King George.

To these inducements were
added others. Letters from the Chevalier -were read to the assembly,
promising to come over in person; with assurances that ships,arms, and
ammunition would be dispatched to their aid.

The proposals of Lord Mar
were unfolded with such address, and his popularity was at that time so
great, that one might have supposed an immediate assent to his schemes
would have followed. On the contrary some degree of persuasion was
required: the Highlanders are slow to promise, but sure to fulfil. The
very chieftains who hung back from a too ready consent, never deserted
the cause which they once undertook. The universal fidelity to the part
which they espoused was violated in no instance during the first
Rebellion.

At length the assembled
chiefs swore ail oath to stand by the Earl of Mar, and to bring their
friends and dependants to do the same. However, no second meeting was at
that time determined upon: every man went back to his own estate, to
take measures for appearing in arms after again hearing from the Earl of
Mar, who remained among his own people with few attendants. But the
Jacobites were not idle during that interval. They employed themselves
in collecting their servants and kindred, but with the utmost secrecy,
until everything was ready to break out. Nor wore they long kept in
suspense. On the third of September, another meeting at Abbone, n
Aberdeenshire, was held, and there the Earl directed his adherents to
collect their men without loss of time. He returned to Braemar, and
continued for several days gathering the people together, untd they
amounted, according to Reav, to two thousand horse; although some have
said that there were only sixty followers at that time assembled.'"

On the sixth of
September, the standard of the Pretender was set up at Braemar, by the
Earl of Mar, in the presence of the assembled forces. The superstitious
Highlanders remarked with dismay, that, as the standard was erected, the
hall on the top of it fell off; and they regarded this accident as an
ill omen. "The event," says a quaint Scottish writer, "has proven that
it was no less."

This grave accordance in
the verification of the omen, was a feature of the times and country.
"When a clan went upon any expedition," observes Dr. Brown in his
valuable work upon the Highlands, "they were much addicted to omens. If
they met an armed man they believed that good was portended. If they
observed a deer, fox, hare, or any four-footed beast of game, and did
not succeed in killing it, they prognosticated evil. If a woman,
barefooted, crossed the road before them, they seized her, and drew
blood from her forehead." This mixture of fear of visionary ev ils, and
courage in opposing real ones, of eredulity and distrust, strength and
weakness, presents a singular view of the Highland character. It had,
however, in many respects, no inconsiderable influence upon the contests
of 1715 and 1745.

From Braemar the Earl
proceeded to Kirk Michael, a small town, where he proclaimed the
Chevalier, and set up his standard. He then marched to Moulin in
Perthshire, where he rested some time, collecting his forces.

It is a remarkable fact,
that up to this period the Earl of Mar was acting without a commission
from the Chevalier. The disposition which is too predominant in society,
and which leads men always to add the bitterness of invective to the
mortification of failure, has attributed to the Earl of Mar, relatively
to this commission, a fine of conduct from which it is agreeable to be
able to clear his memory. It was not very long after the meeting iu
Braemar, that Lord Mar discovered that there was what he called "a
devil" in his camp, in the person of the Master of Sinclair, whose
manuscript strictures upon the unfortunate and incompetent leader of the
Jacobites have contributed to blacken his memory.

According to the Master
of Sinclair, the Earl of Mar produced at the meeting a forged commission
; but this statement is not only contradicted by Lord Mar's own account,
but completely invalidated by the fact that the commission is in
existence, among various other curious documents and letters, many of
which place the character of Lord Mar in a much fairer light than that
in which it has hitherto been viewed. The Earl of Mar, in a
justification of his conduct, printed at Paris, and added to Patten's
History of the Rebellion, gives the following account of the affair:

"It was near a month
after the Earl of Mar8 set up the Standard
before he could produce a commission, and it is no small proof of the
people's zeal for their country that so great a number followed his
advice and obeyed his orders before he could produce one It must,
though, be owned, and it is the less to be wondered at, that his
authority being thus precarious, some were not so punctual :.n joining
him, and others performed not so effectually the service they were sent
upon, which, had they done, not only Scotland, but even part of England,
had been reduced to the Chevalier's obedience, before the Government had
been ii a condition to make head against us."

The commission was,
however, at that time written, although it had not been sent over to
Scotland. It is dated the seventh of September, 1715, and is
superscribed James J The Earl of Mar was doubtless aware that such an
instrument was in preparation.

When the Earl had first
arrived in Scotland, he found, as he himself alleges, the people far
more eager to take arms than his instructions allowed him to permit; but
before actual steps were commenced, that ardour was cooled by two
circumstances: first, by the Chev alier's not landing in England, as the
Jacobites and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, John Earl of Mar, &c.
We reposing espceial trust & confidence in your loyalty, courage,
experience, and good conduct, doe by these * * constitute and appoint
you to be our General and Commander in Cheif of all our forces, both by
see ar.d land, in our ancient kingdom of Scotland. Whereupon you are to
take upon you the said command of General and Commander in Cheif, and
the better to support you in the said authority, our will and pleasure
is, that you act in consort with and by our * * * * We doe likeways
hereby empower you to grant commissions in our name to all officers,
both by sea and land, to place end displace the same as you shall think
fitt and necessary for our service, to assemble oui said forces, raise
the militia, issue out orders for all suspected persons, and seizing of
all forts and castles, and putting ganisons into them, and to take up in
any part of our dominions, what money, horses, arms, and ammunition and
provisions you shall think necessary for arming, mounting, and
subsisting the said forces under your command, and to give receipts for
the same, which we hereby promise to pay. By this our Commission, we
likeways here empower you to make war upon our enemies, ane upon all
such as shall adhere to the present government and usurper of our
dominions. Leaving entirely to your prudence and conduct to begin the
necessary acts of hostility when and where you think most advantageous
conducing to our restoration; and we doe hereby command all, and require
all officers and souldiers, both by sea and land, and ail our subjects,
to acknowledge and obey you as our General end Commander as Cheif of our
army; and you to obey such furder orders and directions as you shall
from time to time receive from us. In pursuance of the great power and
trust we have reposed in you.

"Given at our Court at
Bar le due, the seventh day of September, 1715, and in the fourteenth
year of our reign.

" By His Majestie's
command,

" Sic Subscriliitui,

" Thomas Hiooins." g 2 .

had confidently hoped;
and, secondly, by the Duke of Berwick's not coming to Scotland.'" The
vigorous measures adopted hy Government made, therefore, a far greater
impression on the public mind than could have been expected had the Earl
of Mar been boldly seconded by him who was most of all interested in the
event of the contest. The Lord Advocate summoned all the principal
Jacobites to appear at Edinburgh within specified periods, iu order to
give bail to Government for their allegiance. "Many," says Lord Mar,
"seemed inclined to comply." Yet the number of those who did comply with
the summons was inconsiderable ; the rest, Including the most honoured
names m Scotland, rushed into the insurrection. The different heads of
noble houses dispersed, and each in the district in which he had most
power, and in the principal towns proclaimed the Chevalier King. The
Fiery Cross was sent throughout the country, with blood at one end, and
fire at the other; and it was afterwards asserted by some of the rebels
who were tried at Liverpool, that they were forced into the service of
the Chevalier, the person who bore that cross assuring them that, unless
they hastened to Mar's camp, they were to perish by blood, and fire.

Intelligence of the death
of Louis the Fourteenth, which had happened during the preceding August,
reached Scotland at this time, and cast an universal gloom over his
party. It was even disputed whether the Jacobite leaders should not
disperse until news of the Chevalier's landing should reassure them, or
the certainty of a rising in England should give vigour to their
proceedings. At this critical moment Lord Mar published a declaration
which has been printed in most of the histories of the period, exhorting
all those who wore well-affected to the good cause to put themselves
under aims, and summuning his confederates to the Tower of Braemar, on
the eleventh of September, promising them, iu the name of the King,
their pay from the moment of setting out.

"Now's the time," said
the Earl, "for all good men to show their zeal for his Majesty's
service, whose cause is so deeply concerned, and the relief of our
native country from oppression and a foreign yoke too heavy for us and
our posterity to bear.

"In so honourable, good,
and just a cause," he added, "we cannot doubt of the assistance,
direction, and blessing of Almighty God, who has so often rescued the
royal family of Stuart, and our country from ^inking under oppression.

"Your punctual observance
of these orders is expected. for the doing of all which, this shall be
to you, and all you employ in the execution of them, a sufficient
warrant."

In a very different tone
was a letter, written the same night by the Earl to his bailiie of
Kildrummie: from this epistle, so characteristic of the politic Earl of
Mar, it was manifest that his own followers were more tardy in the field
than those of the other chieftains of the Highlands. The means taken to
intimidate and compel them are strongly characteristic of the state of
society in Scotland at that period.9 The
reluctance of his clan must have been a subject of deep mortification to
Lord Mar, w hen, in one evening, the summons of the Fiery Cross, paraded
round Loch Tay, a distance of thirty-two miles, coubl assemble fiv e
hundred men, at the bidding of the Laird of Glenlyon, to join the Earl
of Mar.

A few days after the
assembling of the, forces, the Earl of Mar, assisted by his Jacobite
friends, published a manifesto, asserting the right of James the Eighth,
by the grace of God, King of Scotland, &c., and pointing to the relief
of the kingdom from oppression and grievances.

"Whilst the adherents of
James were thus assembling in the North, a brave but unsuccessful
attempt was made to surprise the castle of Edinburgh. Ninety chosen men,
under the command of Lord Drummond, were engaged in this undertaking, of
which the design was, to seize the citadel and to place it under the
command of Lord Drummond; then the artillery within the castle was to be
employed in firing their rounds by way of signal to different posts, in
concert. Fires were to be lighted up on the lulls as a signal to Lord
Mar to march and take possession of the city. The failure of this design
was owing to the disclosure of one Dr. Arthur, a physician in Edinburgh,
to his wife, who gave information of the whole plan to the Lord Justice
Clerk, to whom she sent an unsigned letter the evening she had gained
from her unwilling husband intelligence of the scheme. This failure, the
first of those adverse events which disheartened the spirits of the
Jacobites, was, however, less deplored than it would have been, had not
the progress of the Earl of Mar's exertions borne the most flattering
aspect. In September, the Earl marched to Logaret, where his forces
still increased, and thence into the beautiful region around Dunkeld;
here he was joined, with fourteen hundred men, by the Marquis of
Tullibardine, and by five hundred Campbells from the. Breadalbane
territory, headed, not by their chief, but by Campbell of Glenderule,
Campbell of Glenlyon, and John Campbell, the Earl's chamberlain.
Enforced also by the addition of two hundred Highlanders from different
quarters, the Earl of Mar resolved to make the town of Perth his
head-quarters.

This was a wise
resolution: the situation of that fine city presented the most important
advantages to the General of the Jacobite forces. Seated on the river
Tay, and near the sea-coast, it gave the Earl the control of the East
Lowlands, of the rich counties of Angus, the Carse of Gowrie, Mcarns,
Murray, Aberdeen, and Banff, and also of the Shire of Fife. It also cut
off the communication between the north and the south of Scotland, so
that the friends of Government could neither act nor fly from the enemy.
Thus all the usual posts were stopped. The revenues of the public fell
into the hands of the insurgents, who gave receipts for them in the name
of James the Eighth, and the landowners in the counties subject to the
Earl were taxed at whatever rate he chose to impose. Perth continued to
be the head-quarters of the Lieutenant General until a few days before
this disastrous contest was finally closed.

At the first general
review at Perth, the forces of Lord Mar amounted only to five thousand
men; but a few weeks afterwards, by the accession of his friends in the
north, they were increased to the num. her of twelve thousand, both
horse and foot, of well appointed men. That Lord Mar's hopes were high,
and, at this period, not without reason of, at any rate, a partial
success, the following letter addressed by him to Captain Henry
Straiton, at Edinburgh, is a proof. It relates, in the first instance,
to the insurrection in Northumberland, under the gui lance of Mr.
Forster, a gentleman of suspected zeal and little discretion, to whom
Lord Mar unwisely trusted the conduct of the gallant but >ll-fated bauds
who fell at Preston:

"From the Camp of Perth,
October 12th, 1710

"Sir,

" It was yesterday
afternoon as I got yours of the ninth, which you may be sure, was very
ac* The Chevalier's agent there.

"They have been better
than their word in coming together so soon, and I would fain hope it has
been occasioned by some consort with our friends further south, who are
to join them, and that the Duke of Ormond is in England before this
time, as I have reason to believe he is.

"My letters by Mr. Eae*
had not then reached those on the boarder, but when they do, I hope it
will put the project of shooting themselves up in Tinmouth out of their
thoughts; what good could they do there? I have wrote so fully by Mr.
Ene upon the subject of the way of their disposeing of themselves, that
I need say little of it now. You certainly know of the detachment of two
thousand foot, lying these severall dayes 011 the coast of Fife, to get
over, if possible; but nowjhut there's five men of warr in the Firth,
I'm afraid it is not; however, they are stile about it, and will do what
they can: but for finding horse that way, you will easily see is
impracticable, unless the passage were open, and I hope our friends on
the boarder will not want horse from us. I was very fond of the project
of getting the passage of the whole ariaie opened, when I wrote hy Mr.
Ene; hut since that time, beside that of more men of warr comeing into
the Firth, there's another thing I know since, which makes me alter my
thoughts about it, at least of doing it soon, were it in my power. Air.
Ogilvie of Bom arrived here from France on the sixth, as perhaps you
have heard, with my new commission, of which I send you a copie inclosed,
and letters from Lord Bolingbroke; but I know you have accounts of a
latter date at Ediub. so 1 need say the less of them. Lord Bolingbroke
tels me, that in all probability, the King wou'd land very quickly in
the north of Scotland ; so until we be so happie that he comes to us, or
at least we hear from him again, which by those letters 1 expect every
day, I judge it were not prudent for me to pass the armie at Leith or
Queens-ferry, were it in my power, for that wou'd be leaveing the enimie
bewint the King and us, and he might have difficulty in passing over to
us, and being in danger of the enimie; but this of passing the whole
armie at any of these places seems not likely to be iu our power.

"Lord Huntly and Earl
Marishall are come up to us with their people in very good order, but
Lord Seafort is not, being deteaned by forceing Earl Sutherland to
submitt before he left that country, which he has done by this time, and
will be with us soon.

I make his not being come
up the reason of our lying still here, but that of our expecting the
Xing or one from him, is the true one; and I think we must do, until
that happen, so as long as we loose no credit by it. I thought it was
necessary to let you know this, the better to advise our friends in the
South what meassuis to take; which they had best determine by the
success of our detachment getting over to them,  what expectation they
have of friends in England joining them, and what is to be expected
about Edinburgh. If they should be prest in England, which 1 hope will
not be the case, and could do nothing at Edinbugh, they can march throw
the south and west of Scotland to Northhamtonshire, where before they
can be, Generall Gordon's armie or a considerable detachment of it, w
ill be before they can reach it, which they will aply join and be sail*
til we meet them. Glengarry is actually niarcht from Auchalator that way
alreddy. I have taken care to have detachments at all the places on the
coasts, where 1 judge the King can land, so I hope all is safe for him
when he comes on it; and so many of the cruisers being in the Frith make
the coast pretty clear, which is one good our detachment in Fife has
done, should they do no more. We have this day sent two gentelmen to
France (I hope) a safe way with a letter to the Regent from the noblemen
and gentelmen here, which we had resolved on before Boin arrived; but
should the King be come off be-fore it arrives in France it can do no
hurt and may do good.

"I have wrote to Lord
Bolingbroke (who is to remain in France to negotiate the King's affairs
there during his absence,) a full account of things here; and if the
King be come off, which I hope in God he is, he is to lay it before the
Queen, to whom 1 have likewise wrote. I'm exceeding sorry for the loss
of honest Keith's son, but these gentelmen will have it yet payd home to
them.

"As to your going to the
South, or staying at Edmbrugh, I scarce know what to say. I widi you
could be in both places; but since that caunot be, I leave it to
yourself to do which you think will be of most use to the service. If
you go South I beg you may settle a correspondence 'twixt Edinb and
this, and acquaint me with it.

"I heard to-day that my
letters to our friends in the West, desireing they might go immediately
South to join Lord Kenmore, came safe to hand, so I hope they will be
with him soon. I have sent you some of the manifestos which were printed
at Aberdeen, and are finely done: I wish they may come to you saif. I
also send you encloset a letter to Sir Hich. Steele, which I leave open
for you to read and take a copie of. Pray seal it and get it put into
the post-house ; and 1 wish you could get it printed at Edinburgh, tho'
let me not seen it; and if you send a copie to any of your
correspondants at London and Newcastle, to get it printed there it would
do no hurt. I'm endeavouring to get a correspondence settled by barks
from the point of File to Newcastle, which may be of use to us,
especially if the communications twixt as and Edr should be stopt."

On the very day of the
Earl's arrival at Perth, Mr, James Murray, second son of Lord Stormont
arrved from St. Oermaius, bringing assurances of support, and letters
from the Chevalier, who had appointed him Secretary of State for the
affairs of Scotland. Air. Murray is said also to have presented the Earl
of Alar with a patent, creating him Duke of Alar, Alarquis of Stirling
and Earl of Alloway: * And though," observes an historian, " there was
little more said about it, yet the relation seems justified by this,
that in some of the papers printed at Perth, he is styled the Duke of
Alar."

Extensive preparations
wore also declared to be in progress for the invasion of England. Twelve
large ships were actually at that time at anchor in Havre, St. Alalos,
and other places. These vessels, with several frigates of good force,
were loaded with ammunition, and manned with generals, officers, and
soldiers. A particular account of the "Pretender's Magazine" is extant.
But these preparations were all frustrated by the remonstrances of the
Earl of Stair at the Court of the Regent of France. Admiral Byng was
sent with a squadron to cruise on the coast of France, and the ships
ready to sail for the enterprise against England were obliged, by
command of the Regent, in order not to implicate the French Government,
to declare that they were thus employed without the sanction or
knowledge of the Regent. Thus, even whilst Mr. Murray was raising the
sanguine1, hopes of the Jacobites to the highest pitch, their evil star
had again prevailed. They were, indeed, singularly unhappy in those in
whom they placed confidence. Their schemes perpetually got wind: whether
it were owing to the irresolution of some of their partisans, or to the
great participation which the female sex took ia the affairs of the
Chevalier's party, it is difficult to determine.

The Jacobite ladies were
as fearless as they were persevering. The Duchess of Gordon, whose
present of a medal to the Faculty of Advocates denoted her principles,
and whose son, the second Duke of Gordon suffered a brief imprisonment
on account of his share in the insurrection, was one of the most
approved channels of communication between the two parties. She
generally resided in Edinburgh, where she occupied herself as a mediator
between some of the Presbyterian.-, and the friends of James. Colonel
Hooke mentions her as one of the depositories of all that was going on
during his mission.

The Earl of Mar, in his
letters, refers repeatedly to different ladies with approval of their
zeal and courage, and mentions one of his fair confederates in the north
of Scotland, through whose hands many of his letters were sent to
different chieftains; but these channels may not, in all cases, have
been so secure as the Earl conceived.

The proceedings of the
English Government were, meantime, marked with energy and judgment. The
various movements of the insurgent party were met in every direction by
a systematic resistance, the details of which have been minutely
detailed by historians, and belong not to a narrative which is chiefly
of a personal nature.

On the fourteenth of
September, the Duke of Argyle, Commander in Chief of his Majesty's
Forces in Scotland, and General of the army, arrived in Edinburgh. The
interest of this able and powerful nobleman in the Western Highlands,
his zeal for the Protestant succession, were sufficient reasons for his
appointment to this important office. The following original letter from
George the Second, then Prince of Wales, gives an insight into the views
which were entertained by George the First upon the mode of conducting
the warfare in Scotland. It is among various other papers in the Mar
Correspondence.

"St. James's, 7th
October, 1715."

"I have learned, my dear
Duke, by your two last expresses, the embaras you are ' n through the
want of regular troupes. We have used such efforts that the King has
consented last Wednesday to detach to you four batallions from Ireland,
to reinforce your camp. Orders have been given to cause those marche who
are nearest, ami to cause them embarque as they come up, without waiting
for their conjunction. It appeares yet by the departure of the Duke of
Ormond, from Paris, that the malcontents continue in their wicked design
of raiseing up troubles in this kingdom here, which is the cause that
hinders me from sending you Campbell yet, untill that I see if he will
not be necessary for his post, where I think that it is best every body
should be lixed. As soon as all appearance of Rebellion is ended here, I
shall dispatch you him, if you shall have need of him there. With
respect to the orders you demand, it would be very difficult to give you
them positive, not knowing the situation of your affairs, as you may
judge yourself. The King remits himself entirely to your judgment, and
to your conduct. All that I can say to you is not to hazard an action
without a probable appearance of carrying it,rather to shune an en-gadgment,
and to yeild to them the ground, than to expose the affairs of the King
to such ill consequences as would follow from a defeat. In case that my
Lord Mar march into England before that you receive your reinforcement,
I think you would, do very well to allow him at least with your cavalery,
and to harass him untill that we march to meet him. This last reasoneing
is my own properly, but which you will judge yourself, if practicable or
uot. Farewell, my dear Duke.; be assured of my esteem, and my sincere
friendship."

(Signed) " George P."

The Earl of Mar now began
to fortify Perth, and brought up fourteen pieces of cannon for that
purpose from Dundee and Dnnotter Castle. His time and thoughts were at
this time occupied in concerting and encouraging the movements of the
southern insurrection conducted by Viscount Kenmure. There can he no
better means of showing the state of the Earl's hopes and feelings at
this time, than by giving them in his own words.

to viscount kenmure.

" My Lord,

" I wish your Lordship
and Mr. Forster may have gott my letters, which I took all the care I
could to send safe. I wrote last hy a lady on the twenty-third, and she
is so discreet and dextrous, that I make little doubt of its going
right. I have since had two from an indisposed friend of ours on your
side the water, and with them one of the twenty-second from Brigadier
Mackintosh to him, where he tells of his being joined by your Lordship
and five hundred horse with you,Lords YYith-rington and Derwentwater,
Mr. Forester, and about six hundred English gentlemen. Your Lordship may
be sure this was very agreeable news to me, and now, with the blessing
of God, If we do not mismanage, I think our game can scarce fail. By
Brigadier Mackintosh's letter, it seems the English are all for your
going to England in a body to put into execution a certain design, and
our countrymen are for first having the Pass of Stirling opened, and our
armies joined. 1 apprehended there would be ifference about this before
I saw that letter, as your Lordship would easily see by what the lady
carried. It is indeed a difficult point to know or advise which of the
two is the best for the King's affairs; and we on this side Forth being
so ignorant of your situation on the other side, and also of the
condition of England, that I could not take it upon rne to determine in
it, or to give any positive orders what your Lordship should do; but
after stating the advantages of both, and what might happen according as
the enemy should act, I left it to be advised and determined among
yourselves on that side, who could not but know a great deal more, as
you should judge it best for the King's interest in generall.

"I know our indisposed
friend, for whose judgment I have a very great regard, advised coming to
Dalkeith, and we have a report from Fife last night that you have done
so. if I long impatiently to know what resolution your Lordship and the
noblemen and gentlemen with you have come to. It is of great consequence
and deserves to be well weighed. If you are now come to Dalkeith, I will
adventure to tell my thoughts in it, which 1 was not quite so clear in
before when you were at a greater distance from it. That place was a far
way from the other, where I judge the secret-design was to be put in
execution; and I am afraid before you can get there they'll have so
strengthened the place, and filled it with troops, that the design would
prove impracticable with the small army you have,and it might prove,
too, (especially if the Dutch troops come to England,) that you could
not penetrate farther into that country with safety, and retiring hack
into Scotland would have many inconveniences.

"Dalkeith is but a short
way from Stirling, where we on this side must pass (I mean near it), and
I hope we shall attempt it very soon; and when we do, your being in the
rear of the enemy could not but very much incommode them, and be of
great advantage to us. The Duke of Argyle would be so hemmed in at
Stirling by your being on the one hand of him and our being on the
other, that I scarce see what I can do but to intrench myself, and by
that our passage over Forth and joining of you might be very easy; nor
do I see how the Duke of Argyle in those circumstances can subsist long
there. Were we once past Forth and joined on the south side, we should
soon make our way good to England, and then should be much more able to
put in execution the project of our English friends, without being iu
any danger of returning back to Scotland. It would be of great
consequence to have possession of Edinburgh, but I hear just now that
the Duke of Argyle has sent two regiments of dragoons, so tho' perhaps
that may prevent your getting possession of that town, yet I scarce,
believe that they will be able with all the detachments that the Duke of
Argyle dare adventure to send from Stirling to make any attempt against
yoa at Dalkeith, which is so strong a place naturally; and should the
enemy return again from Stirling, you might either follow them in their
rear without danger, or take possession of Edinburgh. "Were once Lord
Seaforth come up to us and General Gordon with the elans which I expect
every day, I shall not be long of leaving this place, and I shall
likewise be able to send more foot over the water, as I sent the last,
if you want them, and your being at Dalkeith, they could easily join
you. Should most of the Dutch troops come to Scotland, as is probable
they will, it would be very hard for us here to pass Forth without your
assistance, which would be a great loss and a grateing thing. I hear
to-day from about Stirling that Sir William Blacish is upon the head of
several thousands in the North of England, but your Lordship and our
English friends will know the truth of this better: be it as it will, I
do not think it alters the. case much. The main and principal thing is
for us to get soon joined all in one body, then 1 am sure we should be
more considerable thau all the force the Government, with the six
thousand Dutch, can bring against us, and when once the British troops
see so considerable a force together, asserting their King's ami their
country's cause, I cannot believe they will, but rather join us, aud
restore their country to peace and liberty.

"These, my Lord, are my
humble thoughts, but they are with submission to your Lordship's aud the
King's friends with you who are equally concerned with us, and I know
equally zealous, and you all certainly know a great deal more than me
here.

"I beg your Lordship may
make my compliments to our countrymen, with you, and to those noblemen
and gentlemen of England who have so handsomely and generously joined
you. I long impatiently to be with you, and with all the haste I can.

"I send copies of this
three different ways, that one or other of them may certainly come to
your hands.

"I also send by one of
them, it not two, a power for your Lordship to raise money for the use
of your armie, which my commission for the King fully empowers me to do
and give.

"I wish this may come to
your hand, and 1 long to hear from your Lordship, which it being
necessary I should soon, I am, with all respect, my Lord, your
Lordship's most obedient humble servant,

"Mar.

It was the intention of
Lord Mar to remain at Perth until all the Jacobite clans should have
joined his army ; but having gained the intelligence that some arms for
the use of the Earl of Sutherland were put on board a vessel at Leith,
to be taken northwards, he determined to take possession of them. The
master of the vessel had dropped anchor at Brunt Island, for the purpose
of seeing his wife, who was there: Lord Mar sent a detachment to
surprise the harbour, which succeeded, in carrying off the spoil, back
to Perth. A report was at the same time raised in m Stirling: that the
Earl was marching to Alloa, the Duke of Argyle forthwith ordered out the
picquets of horse and foot, and, also, all the troops to he ready to
march out to sustain them, if required. But the Jacohite army did not
appear; and the report of their advance to Stirling was believed to be a
false alarm, contrived by Mar in order to draw off the attention of the
Duke of Argyle from the expedition to Brunt Island.

The insurgents were now
masters of the. eastern coasts of Scotland from Brunt Island to the
Murray Frith, an extent of above one hundred and sixty miles along the
shore. On the western side, the Isle of Skye, Lewis, and all the
Hebrides were their own, besides the estates of the Earl of Seaforth,
Donald Mac Donald, and others of the clans. So that from the mouth of
the river Loclde to Faro-Head, all the coast, of Lochaber and Ross, even
to the north-west point of Scotland, was theirs: theirs, in short, was
all the kingdom of Scotland north of the Forth, except the remote
counties of Caithness, Strathnaver and Sutherland beyond Inverness, and
that part of Argyleshire which runs north-west into Lorn, and up to
Lochaber, where Fort William continued in possession of the Government.

The Earl of Mar had
resolved to impose an assessment upon the large extent of country under
his sway, to raise money for the use of his army. It was of course an
unpopular, though doubtless a necessary measure. The sum of twenty
shillings sterling was to be paid by each landholder upon every bundled
pounds Scots of valued rent; and, if not paid by a certain day, the tax
was to be doubled. In levying this assessment, the friends of the
Government were far more severely treated than those of the Chevalier;
and the Presbyterian Ministers, who had dared to raise their voices m
their churches against the Pretender, as they called the Chevalier, were
commanded to be silent on that subject; their houses were plundered, and
many of them were driven by tyranny from their homes.

The northern clans were
now on their march to join the camp at Perth. First came the famous
Laird of Mackintosh, better known as Brigadier Mackintosh, chief of that
numerous clan in lnvernesshire. His regiment, composed of five hundred
men, whom he had persuaded to join in the Insurrection, was considered
the best that the Earl of Mar could boast. The Marquis of Huntley, with
five hundred horse and two thousand foot, next arrived; and the Earl
Marischal shortly afterwards brought a thousand men to the camp. But
Lord Seaforth, afraid lest in his absence the Earl of Sutherland should
invade his country, was still absent; and the anxiety of the Earl of Mar
for his arrival is expressed in more than one of his letters. The whole
strength of the army amounted to sixteen thousand seven huudred men;
this number was afterwards diminished by the detachment sent southwards
by the Earl, and by the number of three thousand who were dispersed in
garrisons. But it was no common force that was now encamped at Berth.

At this critical moment
where was the individual for whom these great and gallant spirits had
ventured their all, the hills so dear to them, their homes, the welfare
of their families, to say nothing of that which Highlanders least
consider, their personal safety? At this moment, the ill-advised and
irresolute James Stuart, was absent. What could have been his counsels?
who were his advisers? of what materials was he made? why did he ever
come? are questions to which the indignant mind can scarcely frame a
reply. The fact, indeed, seems to be that his heart was never really in
the undertaking; that he for whom the tragedy was performed, was the
only actor in it who did not feel his part; it was reserved for a nobler
and a warmer nature to experience the ardour of hope, and the bitter
mortifications of disappointment.

It was not until the
middle of October that the Earl of Mar took any personal share in the
contest between the Jacobite army and that of the Government. Hitherto
he had remained at Berth, acting with an ill-timed caution, and
apparently bestowing far more attention upon the ill-fated insurrection
in Northumberland, aided by the low country Scots under Lord Kenmure,
than upon the proximate dangers of his own army. The detachment of a
body of troops under Brigadier Mackintosh, sent in order to assist the
Lowlanders, who were marching back into Scotland, accompanied by the
forces under Mr. Forster and the Earl of Derwent water, was the
immediate cause of the two armies coming to an engagement. The Earl of
Mar in his narrative thus explains his plans and their failure.

The detachment under
Brigadier Mackintosh having been sent, "occasioned," Lord Mar says, "the
Duke of Argyle's leaving Stirling, and going with a part of his army to
Edinburgh. Now, had the Scots and English horse, who were then in the
south of Scotland, come and joined the fifteen hundred foot, (under
Brigadier Mackintosh) as was expected; had the Highland clans performed,
as they promised, the service they were sent upon in Argyleshire, and
marched towards Glasgow, as the Earl of Mar marched towards Sterling, he
had then given a good account of the Government's army, the troops from
Ireland not having yet joined them, nor could they have joined them
afterwards. But all this failing by some cross accidents, Lord Argyle
returned with that part of his army to Scotland, and the Earl of Mar
could not then, with the men he then had, advance further than Duinblane,
and for want of provisions there, was soon after obliged to return to
Berth."

" But immediately after
that we had got provisions, and that the clans and Lord Seaforth had
joined us, we marched again towards the enemy; and notwithstanding the
many difficulties the Earl of Mar had upon that occasion with some of
our own people, he gave the enemy battle: and, as you saw in our printed
account of it, had not our left wing given way, which was occasioned hy
mistake of orders and scarcity of experienced officers, that being
composed of as good men, and marched as cheerfully up to the field of
battle as the other, our victory had been complete. And as it was, the
enemy, who was advanced on this side the river, was forced to retire
back to Sterling."

Such is the Earl of Mar's
comment upon the battle of Sherriff Muir, of which the friends of
Government gave a very different representation.

The Earl had, it is
evident, no disposition to risk a general engagement before the
Chevalier arrived in Scotland, lie hail sent two gentlemen to the Prince
to learn his determination, and had resolved to remain at Perth until
their return. During his continuance in that city he employed himself
not only in throwing up entrenchments round the town, but in publishing
addresses to the people, to keep up the spirits of the Jacobites. Since
the Earl was never scrupulous as to the means of which he availed
himself, we may not venture to reject the declaration of an historian of
no good will to the cause, that lie ordered " false news" to be printed
and circulated; and published that which he hoped would happen, as
having already taken place. "The detachment," he related, "had passed
the Forth, had been joined by the army in the South, were masters of
Newcastle, and carried all before them; and their friends in and about
London had taken arms in such numbers, that King George had made a shift
to retire." These falsehoods were printed by Freeb&irn, formerly the
King's printer at Edinburgh, whom the Earl had established at Perth, and
provided with the implements brought by the army from Aberdeen.

In the beginning of No\
ember, the Earl of Seaforth arrived at Perth, and the Mac Invans, the
Maceraws, the Chisholmes of Strath-Glass, ami others, completed all the
forces that Lord Mar expected to join him. Truly might the Earl say, "
that no nation in such circumstances, and so destitute of all kind of
succour from abroad, ever made so brave a struggle for restoring their
prince and country to their just rights."f But the usual fate of the
Stuarts involved their devoted adherents iu ruin: or rather, let us not
call that fate, which may be better described by the word incapacity in
the leaders of their cause.

The want of ammunition,
which was to have-been supplied from abroad, was now severely felt. " I
must here add one thing," says Lord Mar, "which, however incredible the
thing may appear, is, to our cost, but too true: and that is, that from
the time the Earl of Mar set up the Chevalier's standard to this day, we
never received from abroad the least supply of arms and ammunition of
any kind; though it was notorious in itself, and well known, that this
was what from the first we mainly wanted; arid, as such, it was insisted
upon hy the Earl of Mar, in all the letters he writ, and hy all the
messengers he sent to the other side."

On the ninth of November
it was determined, at a great council of war, to march straight to
Dumblane, with the ultimate view of following the Brigadier Mackintosh
into England, with the main body of the army, amounting to nine thousand
men, whilst a detachment of three thousand should, if possible, gain
possession of Stirling.

The engagement which
ensued, and which was called the battle of Sheriff Muir, was fought on a
Sunday; after both armies had been under arms all night. No tent was
pitched for the Duke of Argyle's men, either by officer or soldier, on
that cold November evening. Each officer was at his post, nor could they
much complain whilst their General sat on straw, in a sheepcote, at the
foot of the hill, called Sherriff Muir, which overlooks Dumblane, on the
right of his army. In the dead of the night, the Duke, by his spies,
learned where the enemy were; for, although on account of the hills and
broken ground, they could not be seen, they were not at two miles'
distance. This was at Ivinback; at break of day, the army of Argyle was
completely formed, and the General rode up to the top of the hill to
reconnoitre the foe.

The Earl of Mar,
meantime, had given orders for his army to form to the left of the road
that leads to Dumblane, and whilst they were forming in front of the
town of Dumblane, they discovered the enemy on the height of the west
end of the Slierriff Muir. A council of war was then held, and it was
resolved, ncmine contradiccnte, to fight.

The Earl of Mar's forces
had also been ready for combat during the whole of the night. To the
Highlanders the want of shelter was of little consequence. It was usual
to them, before they lay down on the moor, to dip their plaids in water,
by which the cloth was made impervious to the wind; and to choose, as a
favourite and luxurious resting-place, some spot underneath a cover of
overhanging heath. So late as the year 1745, they could not be prevailed
on to use seats. It was therefore with unimpaired vigour that they
rushed on to the combat.

The Earl of Mar placed
himself at the head of the clans: perhaps a finer, a more singular, a
more painful sight can rarely have been witnessed than the rush of this
great body of Highlanders to the encounter. It was delayed by the Earl
of Mar's despatching his aide-de-camp, Colonel Claphan. to Lord
Drummond, and to General Gordon, with orders to march and attack
immediately. On their return, pulling off his hat, he waved it with an
huzza, and advanced in front of the enemy's formed battalions. Then was
heard the slogan or war-cry, each clan having its own distinctive
watch-word, to which every clansman responded, whether his ear caught
the sound in the dead of night, or in the confusion of the coxnhat.
Distinguished by particular badges, and by the peculiar airangement and
colours of the tartans, these devoted men followed the Earl of Mar
towards the foe.

But the action cannot he
described in a manner better adapted to this narrative, than in the
words of Lord Mar himself, in his letter on the very day of the
engagement, to Colonel Balfour, whom he had left in command of the
garrison at Perth. It is dated Ardoch, November 13th, 1715.

"Ardoch, Nov. 13th,
1713."

"I thought you would be
anxious to know the fate of this day. "We attacked the enemy on the end
of the Sherriff Muir, at twelve of the clock this day, on our right and
centre; carried the day entirely; pursued them down to a little hill on
the south of Dumblane; and there I got most of our horse and a pretty
good number of our foot, and brought them again into some order. We knew
not then what was become of our left, so we returned to the field of
battle. We discerned a body of the enemy on the north of us, consisting
mostly of the, Grey Dragoons, and some of the Black. We also discovered
a body of their foot farther north upon the field where we were in the
morning; and east of that, a body as we thought of our own foot, and I
still believe it was so. 1 formed the horse and foot with me in a line
on the north side of the hill, where we had engaged and kept our front
towards the enemy to the north of us, who seem'd at first as if they
intended to march towards us; hut upon our forming and marching towards
them, they halted and marched back to Dumblane. Our baggage and
train-horses had all run away in the beginning of the action. But we got
some horses and brought off most of the train to this place where we
quarter to-night about Ardock, whither we marcli'd in very good order:
and had our left and second line behaved as our right and the rest of
the first line did, our victory had been compleat: but another day is
coming for that, and I hope ere long too.

"I send you a list of the
officers' names who are prisoners here, besides those who are
dangerously wounded and could not come along, whose words of honour were
taken. Two of these are the Earl of Forfar, who I'm afraid will die, and
Captain Urquhart, of Burn's Yard, who is very ill wounded. "We have also
a good number of private men prisoners ; but the number I do not exactly
know.

"We have lost, to our
regret, the Earl of Strathmore and the Captain of Clan Ranald. Some are
missing, but the fate we are not sure of.

"The Earl of Panmure,
Drummond of Logic, and Lieutenant Colonel Maclean are wounded.

"This is all that I have
to say now, but that I am, " Yours, &c. "Mar."

"P.S. "We have taken a
great many of the enemy's arms."

Lord Mar, on this
occasion, showed a degree of personal bravery worthy of the great name
which he bore. He had placed himself on the right, and, as he was giving
orders to the Macdonalds to charge that battalion of the enemy opposite
to them, he encountered a very close fire. "The horse on which my Lord
was," writes an eye-witness on the Jacobite side, "was wounded, for he
fell down with him upon the fire, and got away, and my Lord immediately
mounted another horse: he exposed his person but too much, and showed a
great deal of bravery, as did the other lords about him."

The army of the Duke of
Argyle lay on their arms all night, expecting that the next day the
battle would be resumed; but, on Monday the fourteenth of November, the
Duke went out with the piquet guard to the field to view the enemy, but
found them gone: and leaving the piquet guard on the place, he returned
to Dumblane, and thence to Stirling, carrying off with him fourteen of
the enemy's colours and standards, and among them the royal standard
called the Restoration, besides several pieces of artillery, and many
prisoners, some of them men of rank and influence.

Both sides claimed the
victory of Sherriff Muir as their own; but, however it may be argued, it
is certain that with only throe thousand effective troops, Argyle had
contrived " to break the heart of the rebellion," and to subdue an army
such as could never again be reassembled. Between six and eight hundred
of the Jacobites are stated to have fallen on the field,* and several,
among whom was the brave Earl of Panmure and Colonel Maclean, were among
the wounded. Lord Mar, nevertheless, celebrated the engagement as if it
had been a victory.

Thanksgiving-sermons were
ordered to be preached at Perth, and a Te Deum sung in the church; and
ringing of bells, and other demonstrations deceived the hearts of those
who knew little of the real injury done to the cause, or amused others
whose nearest interests had not suffered in the Sherriff Muir. A paper
was also circulated containing a report of the battle, of course highly
favourable to the Earl of Mar's part in what he called his victory. The
following is the statement which he sent to the Chevalier,

THE EARL OF MAR TO THE
CHEVALlER.

"Nov. 24, 1715.

"Sir,

"It was but yesterday
that I had accounts of your being at sea, and I thought myself obliged
to do all in my power to let you know the state of affairs in this
island before you land in it, so that you may not be disappointed upon
your comeing.

"I had the certain
account yesterday of those who had appear'd in arms besouth Forth, and
in the north of England, all being made prisoners at Preston in
Lancashire, which I'm affraid will putt a stop to any more riseings in
that country at this time.

"Your Majesty's army,
which I have the honour to command, fought the enime on the Shirreif-Muir,
near Dumblain, the thirteenth of this moneth. Our left behav'd
scandalously and ran away, but our right routed the emmies left and most
of their body.

"Their right follow'd and
pursued our left, which made me not adventure, to prosecute and push our
advantage on our right so far as otherwayes wee-might have done, however
wee keept the field of battle, and the enimie retir'd to Duinblain.

"The armie. had lyen
without cover the night before, and wee had no provisions there, which
oblidg'd me to march the armie back two mi lies that night, which was
the nearest place where I could get any quarters. Next day I found the
armie reduced to a small number, more by the Highlanders going home than
by any loss wee sustained, which was but very small. So that and want of
provisions oblidg'd me yet to retire, first to Auchterarder, and then
here to Perth. I have been doing all I can ever since to get the armie
together again, and I hope considerable numbers may come in a little
time; but now that our friends iu England are defeated, there will be
troops sent down from thence to reinforce the Duke of Argyle, which will
make him so strong, that wee shall not be able to face him, and I am
affraid wee shall have much difficultie in makeing a stand any where,
save in the Highlands, where wee shall not he able to subsist.

"This, Sir. is a
melancholy account, but what in duty I was oblidg'd to let you know, if
possibly I can, before you land; and for that end I have endea-vour'd to
send boats out about those places where I judg'd it most probable you
would come.

"Ther's another cupie of
this upon the West Coast, and I wish to God one or other of them may
find you, it' your Majesty be upon the coast.

"By the strength you have
with you. your Majesty will be best able to judge if you will be n a
condition, when join'd with us, to make a stand against the enimie. I
cannot say what our numbers will be against that time, or where wee
shall be, for that will depend on the enimie, and the motions they make;
but unless your Majesty have troops with you, which I'm atfraid you have
not, I see not how wee can oppose them even for this winter, when they
have got the Dutch troops to England, and will power in more troops from
thence upon us every day.

" Your Majestie's coming
would certainly give new life to your friends, and make them do all in
their power for your service; but how far they would be able to resist
such a form'd body of regular troops as will be against them, 1 must
leave your Majestic to judge.

"I have sent accounts
from time to time to Lord Bolingbroke, but 1 have not heard once from
any of your Majestie's servants since Mr. Ogilvie of Boin came to
Scotland, nor none of the five messengers 1 sent to France are return'd,
which has been an infinite loss to us. I sent another, which is the sixt,
to France, some days ago, with the account of our victory, who I suppose
is sail'd ere now.

"May all happiness attend
your Majestic, and grant you may he safe, whatever come of us. If it do
not please God to bless your kingdoms at this time with your being
settled on jour throne, I make no doubt of its doing at another time;
and I hope there will never be wanting of your own subjects to assert
your cause, and may they have better fortune than wee are like to have.
I ask but of Heaven that 1 may have the happiness to see your Majestie
before I die, provided your person be safe; and I shall not repine at
all that fortune has or can do to me.

"Your Majestie may find
many more capable, but never a more faithful servant than him who is
with all duty and esteem, Sir, your Majestie's most dutiful, most
faithfull and most obedient subject and servant,

"Mar."

"From the Camp of Perth,
Nov. 24, 1715."

A fortnight previously
the Earl of Mar had addressed the following curious letter to Captain
Henry Straiton, at Edinburgh, to whom many of Lord Mar's epistles are
written. The allusion to Margaret Miller refers to Lady Nairn, the
sister-in-law of the Marquis of Tullibardine, and wife of Lord Nairn,
who, in compliance with a Scottish custom, took his wire's title, she
being Lady Nairn in her own right. The allusion to "a dose" which will
require the air of a foreign country to aid it, seems to offer some
notion of the Earl's subsequent flight.

"Novemb. 8th, 1715.

"Sir,

"I had yours of the
fourth this forenoon, which was very wellcome. And I hope we shall soon
see the certainty of what the accounts makes us expect of these folks'
arrivall. I sent of a pacquet yesterday with an answer to Margaret
Miller's of the second, and in it I sent a copie of my last to Mr. H--n,
which was dated the second and third, of which I sent him copies two
different wayes, so I hope he'll get one of them at least. They were
pressing them to go into England; and now that they are actually gone
their, and in so good a way, I am easie as to that. I hope God wi1!
direct and assist thorn.

"I thought to have marcht
from this to-day. The foot are mostly gone, and I march with the horse
to-morrow morning. Our genorall revew is to be at Auchterarder on
Thursday morning, and then to march forward immediately. It is of great
use to hear often from you, and to have accounts of our friends in the
north of England, and what is doing in England beside; so I know you'll
write as often as you can find occasions. I fancie I may hear today from
our friends in the north of England, for I hope they had some days ago a
way of sending directly. It seems the Duke of Argyll's absence from
London is not like to do his court of interest there much good. I hope
our manifesto's being disperced at London, will have good effect; and I
long to see what the prints call the Pretender's declaration, and the
declaration of the people of England. The run upon the hank, I hope,
will not lessen. The public credit must not he once ruined to make it
raise again, and I hope that time may he sooner than we think of. We
have rainy weather, hut that is an inconveniencie to the enimie as well
as to us. My humble service to Margaret Miller: I thank her for the
information she gives me, of one about me giving intelligence; but other
friends may be easie about it, for I am sure there is nothing in it; and
I know what made them belive, which I confess had colour enough. I wish
she would get the Doctrix to send a new dose to the patient she knows
of, for there was a little too much of one of the ingredients in the
last, which toke away the effect of the whole. It is the ingredient that
has the postponing quality in it; and the patient's greatest distemper
is the ap-prehentions he has of a perfect cure being lung of comeing,
and that it is not to be til he get the air of another country. The dose
must be carefully made up, and no appearance of its comeing from any
other hand but the Doctrix' own. Ther's some copies herewith sent of a
paper printed on this side the water, of which I hear severall are at
Stirling. The other two papers I got to-day are given to revise, and are
to be printed soon I send you a copie of a letter was wrote t'other day,
and sent to the Cameronians in the west. I wish you could send this one
to some of them in the south. This is all I will trouble you with ; hut
I hope both to get from you and give you good news soon, and I ev er am,
with all sincerity and truth, yrs. &c.

"Perhaps Capt. R-n will
not be found to have done so much hurt as was thought he designed; but
this is not to bid trust him yet."

By two manuscript letters
among the Mar papers, it appears, however, that the account soon
afterwards published by Lord Mar was not so full of artifice and
untruths as his enemies represented. "he kept the field of battle until
it was dark," says one writer, in a letter dated from Perth (November
the 19th, 1715); and nothing but want of provisions prevented us from
going forward the next day. We hoar the Whigs give various accounts of
the battle, to cover the victory; but the numbers of the slain on their
part being eleven or twelve hundred, and ours not above fifty or sixty,
and our keeping the field when they left it, makes the victory
incontestable. Your friends that I know here mind you often, and they
and I would be glad to have the opportunity to drink a bottle with you
beyond the Forth."

Another eye-witness gives
a still more detailed account. "I have yours of the seventeenth, with
the paper inclosed, wherein that gentleman has taken the liberty to
insert many falsehoods relative to the late action, a true and impartial
account of which I here send you, which is but too modest on our side,
ami many things omitted that will be afterwards made publick,
particularly their murdering Strathmoir, after he had asked quarters,
and the treatment they gave to Panmuir and several others, who, I hope,
will be living witnesses against them. The enclosed is so full that I
have little to say, only that we have not lost a hundred men in the
action, and none of note, except Strathmoir, and the Captain of Clan
Ronald."

The cruel spirit of party
destroyed the generous characteristics of the soldier, during the
excitement of the combat: but how can we palliate the conduct of one of
the King's generals, Lord Isla, after the fierceness of the encounter
was over ? The letter referred to discloses particulars which were
hushed up, or merely glanced at, in the partial annals of the time.

"So soon as they saw us
coming down upon them, they marched off in great haste towards Durnblain,
and left several of our people they had taken, among which was Lord
Panmuir, who offered to give his parole, not knowing what had passed
upon the eighth; but he was told by the person he sent to Lord Isla,
that he could not take a parole from a rebel, and they were in such
haste that they lost him in a little house, with several others near the
field, where we found them when we advanced and brought him along with
us to Ardooh, two miles furder, where we stayed all night and next day,
until that we heard the enemy were marched off to Stirling. He is now
pretty well arid in no danger. Earl Loudoun passed him as he lay in the
field, without taking any notice of him, and he was wounded there by the
dragoons after he had surrendered to them; hut I hope there will he one
other day of reckoning for these things. My Lord Mar sent off two or
three people to take care of Lord Eorfar when he heard he was wounded,
and one of them waited of him to Stirling. He expressed a good dale of
consern that he should have been ingadged against his countrymen, and
sent a breslet off his arm to Lord Mar, so that we all wish he may live.
A good pairt of our baggage and the provisions we had, were distroyed by
oui1 own people who went of from our left. We are now getting provisions
and everything ready as soon as possible; and 1 am hopcfull we will be
in a condition in a very few days to pass forth without oposition.

"We have got accounts
this day of a victorie obtained by our friends in the south, the
particulars of which we long for. I have sent you some copies of the
printed account of the action to give our friends.

"So adieu."

Notwithstanding the
humane attentions shewn by the Earl to Lord Forfar, that brave and
generous nobleman died of his wounds. After lingering more than three
weeks, he expired at Stirling on the eighth of December, lie was wounded
in sixteen different places, but a shot which he received in his knee
seems to have been the most fatal injury. The conduct of the Earl
appears in strong contrast with that of the Earl of Isla; but we must
remember that each party had its own chroniclers. It is, nevertheless, a
result of observation, more easily stated than explained, that through
the whole of the two contests, both in 1715 and 1745, the generous and
somewhat chivalric bearing of the Jacobites was acknowledged; whilst a
spirit of cruel persecution marked the conduct of some of the chief
officers on the opposite side. The Duke of Argyle indeed, in his own
person, presented an exception to this remark, which chiefly applies to
those secondary to him in command and influence.

The conduct of Lord liar,
in retreating to Perth after the affair of Sherriff Muir, has been
severely censured. But, as Sir Walter Scott has observed, he met with
that obloquy which generally follows the leader ot an unsuccessful
enterprise. According to Lord Mar's own account (and it has been
corroborated by others), his retiring to Perth was unavoidable. The
Highlanders, brave as they were, had a custom of returning home after a
battle; and many of them went off when the engagement was ended. The
Earl of Mar was not, therefore, in a condition to pursue the advantage
which he had gained, but was forced to await at Perth the arrival of the
Chevalier, or of the Duke of Berwick; on the notification of which, the
Highlanders would have rallied to his' standard. No supplies had been
sent; the gentlemen of the army, as well as the men, hed been long
absent from their homes, and were living at their own expense; and
therefore were impatient for leave of absence. To add to the general
discouraging aspect of affairs, the fatal result of the English
insurrection, under the command of Mr. Forster, was communicated at this
time.

At first the result of
the battle of Preston was represented to the Jacobites at Perth in a
very different light to that in which the defeat of the English
Jacobites afterwards appeared. The following is an extract of a letter
from Lord Mar, dated the twentieth of November. "This day we hear from
good hands that they (the English Jacobites) have had a victory, for
which we have had rejoicings, and I hope in God they are in a good way
by this time. Let me hear from you often, I beg it of you, and I'll long
for the particulars of that affair.

"I am doing all I can to
get us again in a condition to march from home. It will not be so soon
as 1 wish, which is no small mortification to me, but our friends; you
may depend on it, that it shall be as soon as I can, and no time shall
be lost. It is wonderfull that neither the King nor the Duke of Ormond
comes, nor that I have not accounts from them. Now that there is so
considerable a party appearing in England, I hope they will put it off
no longer. I hope all your friends in England are well in particular,
but pray let me have an account of it

"Lord Tulllibardin and
Lord George are well; they are gone again to Atholl to bring back their
men, who went off that they might retrieve their honour, as I doubt not
but they will. It is a great pity if poor Strathmore and Clanronald, and
I'm afraid honest Auchterhouse, s killed, for we can get no account of
him.

"I wish our prisoners may
be as civilly treated as theirs are with us. They are all sent to Dundee
(the officers I mean), where they have the liberty of the town, and wear
their swords. My compliments to our sick friend, who I am sorry is still
so; but he has had a good second and secretary.

"Pray let us have some
good news now, and I am with all truth and esteem, Yours, &c."

"Tenth, November 20,
1715."

"Lord Panmure recovers
pritty well. The enimie give out that he gave his parole when he was
prisoner, but it was not so, he offered it them but they would not take
it from a rebel as they call'd him, and neither did Strewan; so they
were both resqued."

These letters place Lord
Mar in a somewhat more estimable light than the usual statements have
done. The truth is, that we ought never to judge of a man's actions
before we have had an insight into his real motives and circumstances at
the time. Few individuals had greater difficulties to contend with than
Lord Mar.

Harassed by cabals among
the adherents of the Chevalier; unable to account for the continued
reserve aud absence of that Prince; and weakened greatly both by the
secession of the clan of Fraser, who had juined the Insurgents with
Mackenzie of Fraserdale, but who now went away, and joined him whom they
considered as their real chieftain, the infamous Simon Fraser, of
Beaufort, Lord Lovat; the Earl began to listen to those who talked of
capitulating with the enemy. He found, indeed, that he was forced to
comply with the wishes of the chieftains, some of whom were making
private treaties for themselves. It must have been a, bitter humiliation
to Lord Mar to have sent a message to his former rival in politics, the
Duke of Argyle, "to know if he had power to treat with him;" but the
measure appears from the following letter to have been unavoidable. It
was written after the news of the defeat at Preston had reached Perth.
It bespeaks some degree of compassion and consideration for a man whose
councils were distracted by dissensions, and who was embarrassed beyond
measure by the absence of the Chevalier, to whose arrival he looked
anxiously to give some hopes of revival to a sinking cause. The Master
of Sinclair, to whom Lord Mar refers as a "devil," and who, since the
disaster at Preston was known, " appeared in his own colours," was the
eldest son of Ilenry, eighth Baron Sinclair, a devoted adherent of the
House of Stuart, and one of those who had withdrawn from the Convention
of 1689 when the resolution to expel James the Second was adopted, John,
Master of Sinclair, was after wards attainted, and never assumed the
title of his father, although pardoned in 1726.

" November 27th, 1715.

" SIR,

" 1 had yours of the
twenty-second, the twenty-fifth, anil also spoke with the person you
mention in it; I suppose he wou'd see you, as he returned The disaster
of our friends m England is very unlucky, both to affairs there and
here. Since we knew of it here a devil, who 1 suspected for some, time
to be lurking amongst us, has appeared openly in his own colours. I
forsaw this a-comeing some days ago. I have endeavoured to keep people
from breaking amongst themselves, and was forced to go into the first
step of it; but I hope we shall be able to have the manadgement of it,
and prevent its doing any hurt, but to confounde in time comeing the
designs of those who were the promoters of it. It was by the advise of
all your friends what I have done, so let not our folks be alarmed when
they hear of it from him. It is odd where the K can be all this time,
since, by all appearance and all the accounts we have, he has left
France long ago; but that must quickly appear, and I hope to get things
staved off til it does. But without his comeing what can be done? Tho' I
hope that will not be the case. It is odd that others write of Col. H--y
and Doctor Abory, both at Parise, and that they do not write
themselves, tho' I'm told to-day that there's a letter from them to me
at Edinburgh, which I long for. We are told of troops comeing from
Englande, both English and Dutch. I doubt if they'll ventur to quitt
with both, and I would fain hope that none of them w ill come soon. God
grant that the K be safe. If he go to England, as we are told he
designed, I doubt not but he knows of support there. I confess there's a
great deal lost by his long delay, but that certainly was not- in his
power to help, else it wou'd not have been so. If he still come here, 1
hope we will yet be able to make a stand for him this winter, but 1
thought I was obledged to let him know the true situation before he
land, which I have done to the best of my pow'r, and lodged letters for
him in the places where I thought it most likely he wou'd come, so that
he may not be uissapointed by expecting to find things better than they
are. lie has been so long by the way that it wou'd seme he is not
comeing to England, but that he is comeing round about Ireland to
Scotland ; and neither he nor 1) 0-d* be in England. It wou'd seem
that they will not stir there, which would make it a very hard task
here; but 1 hope Providence will protect him, and yet settle him on his
throne.

"I find it will be
sometime before I can stirr from hence, and if the enemy get not
reinforements, I judge they will not stirr either; but as soon as they
get them they certainly will, and I'm afraid we shall be oblidged to
take the hills, which is a could quarter now. I wish you knew a great
many particulars I have to tell you, hut it is not safe writing them;
there are some people with us who it had been good for the King they had
stay'd at home, where they want not a little to be, and will leave us at
last, but we must make the best of them, tho' there be but ill stuff to
make it of as the saying is. Never had man so plaguie a life as I have
had o' late; but I'll do the best 1 can to go threw it, and not be
unworthy of the trust reposed in me. My service to Mr. Hall, and 1 hope
he'll make my compliments to his correspondent at Bse," who he mentions
in his to me; but its odd that I have heard from none there myself ever
sine Bn came, especially since other letters come through. I must own I
have not had many encouragements, but that should be nothing if I had
encouragements for others. Should it please God that the King's affairs
should not succeed, but that people capitulated, I do not purpose to be
a Scots or Englishman if they would let me, and all that I would ask for
myself is liberty to go abroad, for in that case I wou'd rather live in
Siberia than Britain. If the King does not come soon, I find people will
not hold out long; but if he does, there are honest men enough to stand
by him and not see him perish. Bray let me hear from you as often as you
can, and when you write to Mrs. Miller make my compliments to her. I
wish some of our men here had her spirit. I hope you are now perfectly
recover'd, but pray take care that you fall uotill again. Adieu.

"Pray cause give the
enclosed to my brother as soon as it comes to your handes. I beg you may
apprise our friends at London and Parise of what has been done hear
to-day; the sending to Argle at Stirling a message about articles of
treaty, as appears from other papers, which I tel you I was forced to go
into;that they may not be surprised at it and think we have given all
over, which might have very bad consequences in both places. Do this by
the first post. All will come right again if the King come soon to
Britain."

The answer returned by
the Duke of Argyle to Lord Mar's overture was this: that u he had no
sufficient powers to treat with the Earl of Mar and his Council as a
body, but that he would write to Court about it."

To this reply, which was
sent with much courtesy by the Duke, a rejoinder was made, H That when
the Duke should let the Earl of Mar and his Council know that he had
sufficient power, then they would make their proposition." The proposal
was sent up to St. James's, but no further notice was taken of it, nor
were the powers of the. Duke of Argyle extended to enable him to come to
any terms with Lord Mar. Rut although the negotiation thus died away,
the weakness it betrayed among the Jacobite party was highly prejudicial
to their cause.

James, during all the
recent events, had been engaged in making several attempts to leave St.
Maloes. He had gone openly un hoard ships which were laden with aims and
ammunition tor his use, hut had withdrawn when he found that his
embarkation was known. He therefore changed his plans, and crossing to
Normandy, resolved to embark at Dunkirk. Having larked for several days,
disguised as a mariner, on the coast of Brittany, he went privately to
Dunkirk, where he embarked, attended by the Marquis of Tynemouth, the
eldest son of the Duke of Berwick, Lieutenant Cameron, and several other
persons, on board a French ship, which, according to some accounts, "was
laden with brandy, and furnished with a good pass-port." Thus at length
having ventured on the ocean, the Prince set sail towards Norway; but
changed his direction, and steered towards Peterhead, in Aberdeenshire.
During all this time, the Earl of Mar suffered from the utmost anxiety
and perplexity for one who was unworthy of the exertions made for his
restoration. This is ev ident from the following letter, dated November
the thirtieth, to Captain Straiton:

"The accisums of that
person's way of going on, and the danger he is in, confound me; but I
hope Providence has not preserved him all this while to destroy him at
last. I am doing all 1 can to make it safe; and perhaps what we thought
our misfortune, (the men going home after Sheriff Muir,) may prove our
happiness, they being where that person is to come, and I send troops
there immediately."

"I knew before I got
yours that the Dutch troops were coming here."51" Those by sea may come
soon, but those by land cannot be here a long time. They will now power
in all the troups from England on us; but I hope we may hold it this
winter in spite of them, tho' we shall have hard quarters in the
Highlands. In case of what Mr. H--H writes me prove true, and happen,
for fear of accidents after it does, were it not fitt that you should
write to France to send some ships to cruise up and down the northwest
coast to save the person Mr. H-H writes of, if things should not prove
right? and our friends in France can either send them from thence or
Spain, round Ireland? I hear of but two little ships of warr on that
coast; and the ships I would have sent may pass as marchant ships
tradeing and putting in by accident therabouts, which they often do.
Pray think of this, and write of it soon to France, as I intend to do
to-night by an express 1 am sending; and were it not fitt you should
write of it too to some trusty friend at London? But it must be done
with the utmost caution, for fear of disheartning the English. Tho' the
saftv of that person is of such consequence that all ways is to he taken
for it, and all accidents guarded against.

"I wrote to you the
twenty-seventh, and in it I gave you account of an affair which happened
amongst us, which obliged us to send a message to the Duke of Argyll. I
hope this came safe to your hand. His answer was very civil, and our
return was in the words following, viz: ' We are obliged to the Duke of
Argyll for his civility; that, since he has no powers to treat with us,
we can say no more now; but if at any time he shall have them, and let
us know it, we shall give our answer.'

"I hope this affair has
been so manadgd that all the spirit of division amongst us is crusht;
and pray take care to informe our friends at London and Parise about it,
that it may not alarme them. I am affraid of its alarmeing the Regent,
and keeping him from doing anything for the King; for which reason 1
send an express to Lord Bolingbroke to-night. I suppose it will be ten
or twelve dayes at least before the Duke of Argyll will have a return,
and we may know much before that time. If they agree to a treaty, it is
still in our own power; and if not, I hojie people will stand together
for their own sake.

"You speak in your two
last as if you were opresst about our divisions. All I shall trouble you
further in relation to this,there are odd people amongst us, and those
of whom it should not have been expected; they had instild their spirit
so farr into many, that there was in steming the tide but by going into
it, or else breaking amongst ourselves, and, like them, make a seperat
peace; but now those wise folk are ashamed of themselves, and are
disclaimed by those who they said comissioned them. 1 do all I can to
make others forgett this behaveour of those people, and I hope we shall
be as unite as ever. If the King come, I am sure we shall; and if God is
not pleased to bless us with his preseuce, whatever we do shall be in
consert.

"I beg to hear often from
you, and particularly what you can learn of the motion of the enimie and
their designs.

"I send a reinforcement
to-night to Bruntisland of a hundred men, and there was fifty in it
before.

"Lord Seaforth went north
some time ago, and severall of Lord Huntly's people; so I hope they
togither will be able to keep Lord Sutherland from doing much mischife,
and e'er long to reduce him and all the King's enimies there. We are not
yet in so much appreheution of them as Mr. H-H seems to be. I am
mightily pleased you are so much recovered, which I know by your hand-writeing;
but I can scarce conceave how you get yourself keept free of our enimies,may
you do long so, and

"I am sincearly yours,
&c. Adieu."

On the first of December,
the Earl having still heard in tidings of the Chevalier, and being
ignorant of his real movements, again writes in all the uncertainty, and
with the circumspection of one who knows not whether his letter will he
received. He seems always to have sent duplicates of his letters.

"I am in the utmost pain
about the K--, and I have done all in my power to make him safe, but I
hope Providence will protect him. I sent one for France this morning,
and I hope he may sail in a day or two, but let that not keep you from
writeing there too. I would fain hope that the Regent has altered his
measurs, and is comeing into the K-'s intrest, else I do not see how it
had been possible for him to get thro' France: if so, I have good hopes,
and I wish he may come to us; but if not, and that England do nothing, I
wish he were safe again where he formerly was, for we shall never be
able alone to do his bussiness, and hi; will be in the utmost danger
after starve-ing a winter in the Highlands. Lord Huntley is still very
much out of humour and nothing can make him yet believe that the R-'s a-comeing.
He intends to go north, under the pretext of reduceing Lord Sutherland,
and his leaving us at this time 1 think might have very bad effects,
which makes me do all I can to keep him. The Master of Sinclair is a
very bad instrument about him, and has been most to blaiia of any body
for all the differences amongst us. I am plagued out of my life with
them, but must do the best 1 can. I expect now to hear every day of the
K--'s landing; but should he he any time of comeing, and the Duke of
Argyll get his powers and send us word of it before he come, our old
work will begin again, and I am sure I shall be deserted by a great
many. Some people seem so farr from being pleased with the news of the
K-' comeing, that they are visiblie sorry for it; and I wish to God
these people had never been with us, for they will be our undoing! and
what a plague brought them out, since they could not hold it out for so
short a time? I shall be blamed, I know, over all Europe for what I am
entirelyr innocent of. It will be my own ruin beside, but if that could
advance the K--'s alfairs I am contented. In lime I shall be justified
when my parte in all this affair comes to be knowen, and I bless God I
have witnesses enough who have seen all; and if accidents do not happen
them, my papers w ill show it to conviction, for I have been pretty
exact in keeping copies and a journall.

"Since I have wrote so
fully to you, I do not write to Mr. II--II, for which I hope he'll
forgive me.'"

"I am anxious to know if
my brother got my note that was inclosed to you in that of the
twenty-seventh, which was to caution him ion a thing that I was affraid
his over great concern for me might make him do, and which would vex me
extreamly if he did.

"I long to hear from you
again, as I suppose you will from me; and as soon as I know of what
you'll expect to bear of from me, you shall. Adieu."

In a few days afterwards
Lord Mar had gained more precise intelligence of the Prince's movements;
on the delay at St. Maloes he puts the favourable construction of the
vessel's having been wind-bound, as will be seen by the following
letter. The dissensions in his counsels, aided, as he hints, by the
influence which the Master of Sinclair exercised over the. Marquis of
Huntley, were, still, not among the least of his difficulties.

"December 6th, 1715.

"Sir,

"Last night one of the
messengers I had sent to France returned, and there came with him to
Montrose, Mr. Charles Fleeming and General Eclin; but they are not yet
come here, nor some money that came along with them. I have a letter
from the King, the fifteenth of November, N. s. from St. Malos; severall
from Lord Bolingbroke, the last of which was the twenty-seventh, and he
believed the King then to be saild, and he had been wind bound there
three weeks; but he did not sail, as I understand from the messenger til
the eighteenth inst., he having seen a letter from Col. Hay at St.
Maloes, to Mr. Arbutlmot, two dayes after he sailed. God send him safe
to us, for which I have done all in my power ! It is in the hands of
Providence, and I hope God will protect him. It is not to be known where
he is to land, and indeed ;.t cannot he known certainly. Even this has
not quire cured all the whims amongst us. Lord grant a safe landing, and
I hope that will. The. Duke of Ormond is gone to England, and I believe
he has some troops with him and arms and ammunition.

"I hear from Fife to-day
that there landed at Leith on Sunday last four hundred of the Dutch
troops. I hope that's all that are comeing hy sea. I have the King's
Declaration, which is to he reprinted here, and shall he dispers'd in a
few days. The less that it he spoke that the King is to land soon, I
believe the better, until he actually does, for that but make the
Government more alert. Were he but once lauded, I have reason to believe
that there will be a new face of affairs seen abroad as well as at home
in the King's favour, which is all I dare yet adventure to trust of it
to paper; but I hope in God were the King once with us all will be well.

"There are more officers
comeing to us from abroad different wayes, so it's likely they may be
dropping in every day. The Duke of Berwick stays behind for a very good
reason, and is to follow. The King has been pleased to confer new
honours on me, but I do not think it fitt to take it on me til he comes,
and if t pleases not God he come to us safe, I am indifferent what
becomes of all I ever had, and this may go with the rest. It is goodness
in him, and more than I askt or deserve. I w ill long to hear from you;
and tho' I desire you not to let the news 1 write you be much talk of,
yet I suppose it will be no secret, for I am obliged to communicate what
I get to so many that it cannot possible be keept, and yet 1 cannot help
this. Tho' Lord Huntley said little to me to-day upon my shewing him my
letters, yet I know it from good hands he is not a bitt in better
humour, and that he will now positively go north; which I suppose he'll
write of to me to-morrow, for 'tis seldom now he'll either see me or let
me see him, tho' I take all the ways I can to please and humour him, but
all will not do: however, 1 hope will not have many followers. Master of
Sinclair is gone this day to see his father upon a sharp letter he had
from him yesterday about his behaviour. Some others are ashamed of the
part they acted, but if the King come not soon all of them will relapse
again. The clans stand firm, and I hope will to the last.

"Pray try to get notice
of what private letters from London say upon our proposeing terms, and
let me know as soon as you can. Adieu.''

It is futile to trace the
revival of the Earl's hopes, and the increase of his confidence. The
following letter contains, among other circumstances, a reference to the
supposed attempt of the Earl of Stair, in Prance, to assassinate James.

Atgife, " December 10th,
1715.

"Yesterday I had yours of
the fourth and fifth, for which I thank you. I wrote to you on the
eighth, which I hope you got safe, and in it I told you of one of the
messengers 1 had sent to France being returned, and with him General
Eclin and Mr. Charles Fleming, and some money: since that Doctor
Abercromby is returned and Lord Edward Drummond is come with him and
brought some more money. They come off the same day with the others, and
landed the same day at Aberdeen the others did at Montrose. They only
brought duplicates of the dispatches I had by the others, and a letter
to me from the Q with a pacquet from her to the K, by which you may be
sure he is sail'd, and we hourly expect to hear of his landing. Since
those people came, those amongst us who had been uneasy, are now comeing
to be in good hum. >ur again, particularly Lord Huntley; and 1 have
agreed to his going north with some of his horse to get all his people
there together to suppress those about Inverness, and also to have them
in readiness against the K. comes. Pray God send him safe and soon, and
then 1 do not despair of things going right still. Our whole prisoners
almost, I mean the private men, are like to take on since they heard of
the Kg's being certainly a-comeing; and since they saw the two enclosed
papers, they say that were he once come, there will be news of their
armie and all those prisoners. Even those who do not lift with us, pray
openly for the Iv, and that God may keep him out of the hands of his
enimies.

"The two enclosed are
sent about to a great many places: it is better to delay dispersing the
K's declaration til he arrive, since I hope that is near.

"I admear we hear no
certain accounts of the Duke of Ormond, for the fifteenth inst. the K
and Q too write to me that he was saild a second time for England.

"I pray God it may be
well with him. and if he do not, then I wish he may come here with all
my heart.

"We have heard nothing as
yet of the Duke of Argyle's return from London, and 1 imagine we shall
hear nothing from him upon it, when he does get it, and I hope ho shall
never be askt for it more by us. The Duke of Atholl will himself send
his men against Crafourd.

"I believe I forgot to
tell you in my last that Colonel Hay mist very narrowly being murdered
in France, takeing him for the K (being in one of his cheases), by Lord
Stair's gang, and in their pockets Lord Stairs orders were found to go
to such a place, and there obey what orders they should receive from
Count Douglass (Lightly), let them be never so desperate. This is
something so horrid that I want words to express it. I tell it you just
as those from France tell me. The fellow was imprisoned by the
government there and reclaimed by Lord Stair. Lord Clairmont was
actually reclaimed by the. Regent before they come away; so his being
brought to England after, may work something. I have just now a packet
of news sent me by A. M., for which I thank you. Notwithstanding this
great new General's being come, 1 see not how they can do anything at
Stirling till the Dutch join them, and that cannot be yet for some time;
pray Heavens the K come before them! I know by other accounts as well
as yours, from abroad, that they are not above four thousand complete,
and some of these are lost. Our Highlanders have got in their heads a
mighty contempt for them, which may do good. This goes by the Hole,*
from when your packet yesterday was sent me. I have nothing further to
add now, but I hope soon to send you agreable news. Fray give my service
to I. II. and desire him to make my compliments to his landlady and tel
her, I hope she is now right with her son, which I am exceeding glad of.
Adieu."

At length, on the
twenty-second of December, James landed at Peterhead, after a voyage of
several days. His arrival dispelled many doubts of his personal courage,
since, after all his deliberations, he adopted by no means the least
hazardous course by traversing the British ocean, which was beset by
British men-of-war. lie had sailed from Dunkirk in the small vessel in
which he had embarked, and which was followed by two other vessels,
containing his domestics, and stores for the use of his army. His
immediate attendants were disguised as French officers, and his retinue
as seamen. It had been the Chevalier's original intention to have landed
in the Frith of Tay; but observing a sail which he suspected to be
unfriendly, he altered his course, and landed at Peterhead, where the
property of the Farl Marischal was situated. The ship in which the
Chevalier sailed was, however, near enough to the shore to be able, by
signals, to make signs to his friends of his approach. At Perth the
intelligence was received with the utmost joy, and produced a most
favourable effect, even among the prisoners of war, which Lord Mar
describes in the following letter. Up to the twenty-eighth of the month
he had not seen the Prince:

"The 28th December.

"Yours of the
twenty-second I have got just now by the Hole, and I sent one that way
to you yesterday from our friend here, in which you have the joyfull
news of the King's safe, arival, which I hope in God will effectually
sement what you recomend to us. Our friend went yesterday morning to
meett his master, who I hope will be here with us again Friday; I pray
God turn the hearts of his enemies, both for the sake of him and their
poor country! It will be a monstruous crime never to be forgiven, 'if
they now draw their swords against him, since he has been pleased to
give them a most gratious indemnity for all that is past, without
exception. All will now soon he dispersed in the North that opose him.
Sutherland's men are all deserting him, and the Erasers are all gone
home. I make no doubt hut that Ave are masters of Inverness, and so
consequently the whole North he-fore this time. I make no doubt hut that
the King's presence will forward everything: it has already had great
effects here: and those that were for separate measurs have reason to he
ashamed, and I hope they will make amends by their future behaveor. We
have sent over some of the declarations, and ane other paket of them is
gone this night. Now is the time for everv body to bestir themselves,
and that all resort here to their master. I a me persuaded you'l not be
idle. Those that made a pretext of the King's not being landed, are now
left unexcusable; and if those kind of folks now sit still and look any
more on, they ought to be worse treated than our worst enemies. I beg of
you to send us what accounts you can learn on your side, and what they
are now to do upon this news. I hope in God we shall now be soon ready
to give them a meeting! It will be of consequence for us to hear often
from your side, and we have little other accounts than from you. I have
sent yours by ane express this day to our friend, and I hope to hear
from you soon in return to the last that went on Munday. The K lay on
Saturday night at the Earl of Marischall's house; he had a very good and
safe passage, and has given them a fair slip, for I supose they did
never rekon on his comeing the near way. 1 hear there is a great resort
to Lim, since he landed, of all ranks.

"The Duke of Athol sent a
pairtv of two hundered of his men yesterday morning, under the comand of
his brother Lord Edward, and his son Lord James, to Dunkeld to have
surprised our garison there, which consisted of about one hundred men of
the clans; but it seems the garison had notice of it some hours before
they came, and gave them such a warm reception, that they retired in
great haste with the loss of two men killed by our out-sentinels and
five or sixe wounded. I belive his Grace's men had no good will to the
work, and were brought their against their inclinations. They had nott
then gott the account there of the King's arival, els I belive they had
not atempted it. I wish our garison were now at Brunt Island, but I hope
that loss soon be made up. I hope you'l omitte no occasion in letting us
hear from you. Adieu.

"The above is writte to
H. S., but it wiil serve you both to forward it to him. I got the money
and the cloas safe. I expect to hear from you soon. I have yours of the
twenty-third. I have sent over a paket to be dispersed, and some ane
other way. Your letters are longer be the way than they need so order
it. Fall on some proper way to gett the enclosed delivered by some
person, but be not seen in it yourself. If ane answer can be got, send
it."

The Chevalier slept in
the town of Peterhead on the first night of his landing, but on the
second he was received at Newburgh, a seat of the Earl Marischal; and
the adherents who welcomed him as their Prince, had there an opportunity
of forming a judgment of one whom they had hitherto known only by the
flattering representations of those who had visited the young
adventurer, at his little Court in Lorraine.

In person, James is
reported by the Master of Sinclair to have been " tall and thin, seeming
to incline to be lean rather than to fill as he grows in years." His
countenance, to judge by the most authentic portraits of this Prince,
had none of the meditative character of that of Charles the First, whom
the Chevalier was popularly said to resemble. neither had it the
sweetness which is expressed by every feature of that unhappy Monarch,
nor had his countenance the pensiveness which wins upon the beholder who
gazes upon the portraits of Charles. The eyes of the Chevalier were
light-hazel, his face was pale and long, and in the fullness of the lips
he resembled his mother, Mary of Modena. To this physiognomy, on which
it is said a smile was rarely seen to play, were added, according to the
account of a contemporary, from whose narrative we will borrow a further
description, a speech grave, and not very clearly expressive of his
thoughts, nor over much to the purpose; his words were few, and his
behaviour and temper seemed always composed.

"What he was in his
diversions we know not; here was no room for such things. It was no time
for mirth. Neither can 1 say I ever saw him smile. Those who speak so
positively' of his being like King James the Seventh, must excuse me for
saying that it seems to say they either never saw this person or never
saw King James the Seventh; and yet I must not conceal that when we saw
the man whom they called our King, we found ourselves not at all
animated by his presence; and if he was disappointed in us, we were
tenfold more so in him. We saw nothing in him that looked like spirit.
He never appeared with cheerfulness and vigour to animate us: our men
began to despise him; some asked if he could speak, nis countenance
looked extremely heavy. He cared not to come abroad among us soldiers,
or to see us handle our arms to do our exercise. Some said the
circumstances he found us in dejected him. I am sure the figure he made
dejected us; and had he sent us but five thousand men of good troops,
and never himself come, we had done other things than we have done. At
the approach of that crisis when he was to defend his pretensions, and
either lose his life or gain a Crown, I think, as his affairs were
situated, no man can say that his appearing grave and composed was a
token of his want of thought, hut rather of a significant anxiety
grounded on the prospect of his inevitable ruin, which he could not be
so void of sense as not to sec plainly before him.at least, when he
came to see how in consistent his measures werehow unsteady the
resolution of his guides, and how impossible it was to make them agree
with one another."*

It was at Glammis Castle,
the seat of the Earl of Strarhmore, that the Earl of Mar drew up a
flattering account of the Prince, which he caused to be printed an!
diligently circulated. The whole is here given, as affording an insight
into all that was going on:

"I have had three of
yours since I left Perth, but I wonder I have no letters from London. I
mett the Ring at Fetteresso on Tuesday night, where we stayed til
Friday; from thence we came to Brichan. then to Kinnaird, and yesterday
here. The King designed to have gone to Dundee to-day, but flier's such
a fall of snow that ho is forced to put 't off. til to-morrow, if it be
practicable then; and from thence he designs to go to Scoon. There was
no haste in his being there sooner, for nothing can be done in this
season, else he had not been so long bv the way. People every where as
we have come along, are excessively fond to see him and express that
duty they ought. Without any compliment to him, and to do hirn nothing
but justice, set aside his being a prince, he is realie the finest
gentelman I ever knew. He has a very good presence, and resembles King
Charles a great dele. His presence, tho', is not the best of him; he has
lure partes, and dispatches all his buissiness himself w ith the
greatest exactness. I never saw any body write so finely. He is afable
to a great degree w' out looseing that majestie that he ought to have,
and has the sweetest temper in the world. In a word, he is even fitted
to make us a happie people, were his subjects worthie of him. To have
him peaceablie settled on his thron is what these kingdomes do not
deserve; but he deserves it so much, that I hope ther's a good fate
attending him; I am sure ther's nothing wanting to make the rest of his
subjects as fond of hiin as we are, but thus knowing as we now have the
happiness to do. And it will be odd if his presence amongst us, after
his running so many hazards to compass it, do not turn the hearts of
even the most obstinat. It is not fit to tel all the particulars, but I
assure you, since he arived, he has left nothing undone that well could
be to gain every body, and I hope God will touch their hearts.

His Majestie is very
sensible of the service you have done him, and lie desires you may
continue, for which he hopes he may yet be able to reward you. He wrote
to France as soon's he landed, and sent it with the shipe he came 'a,
which we hope got safe there long ago. It is not often that we can have
opportunity of writeing or sending there, and the Queen and others will
be mighty '.inpatient to hear frequently; therefore his Majestie expects
you should write there frequently, and give them all the accounts you
can. I have reason to hope we shall very quickly see a new face on
affairs abroad in the King's favour, which is all I dare comitt to
paper. The Government will nott certainly send all the strength against
us they can. but e'er long, perhaps, they may have occasion for their
troups else where.

"I belive one would speak
to you lately of a kind of comisary of the Dutch, that may be spoke to,
which by no means ought to be neglected, and he being on your side the
watter, it is left to you, and you must not stick at offering such a
reward as he himself can desire, which I shall see made good: there
should no time be lost in this, and I'll be glad to know soon if there
be any hopes that way.

"Tho' the way of sending
letters betwixt us be now much more difficult than ever, yet you must
write as often as you possiblie can get any probable way of sending of
them safe; and pray give us all the accounts you can. I have ordred some
of the King's declarations for England to be sent you, and when they
come to your hands you wou'd get some way of sending them to London and
other places of England. Send the enclosed for my wife under a cover, as
you used to do; by my not hearing from her, I am affraid my last has not
come to her hands. When any comes from her for me, pray take care that
you send them a safe way. We long to know what effects the news of the
King's arivall had at London, Stirling, and Edinburgh. I suppose you
still hear from Kate. Bruce. I do not understand what she means by going
to the country, which she mentions in her letter to you.

"I see one of the. prints
that Lawrance is come off from London, so by this time he must certainly
be in Scotland: pray let me know what you hear of him. If he be come, I
suppose he'll understand himself so well as our prisoner, that he will
immediately give himself up to us again.

"The King wears paper
caps under his wige, which I know you also do; they cannot be had at
Perth, so I wish you could send some on, for his own are near out.

"We are in want of paper
for printing; is there no way to send us some from your side?

"Pray, send my wife one
of the Scots and one of the English declarations at the same time my
letter goes, but under another cover. Adieu.

"Since writeing I have
yours of the thirty-first and first, for which I thank you, and am just
going to read them to my master."

Little dependance can be
placed on the entire accuracy of cither of these varying
descriptions,the one penned by a disappointed, and perhaps wavering,
adherent, the other by a wan whose personal interests were irrevocably
involved with those of James. We mast trust to other sources to enable
us to form a due estimate of the merits of this ill-starred Prince.

James Stuart was at this
time in his twenty-seventh year. From his very cradle he had been, as it
might seem to the superstitious, marked by fate for a destiny peculiarly
severe. His real birth was long disputed, without the shadow of a
reason, except what was suggested by a base court intrigue. This slur
upon his legitimacy, which was afterwards virtually wiped away by the
British Parliament, was nevertheless the. greatest obstacle to his
accession, there being nothing so difficult to obliterate as a popular
impression of that nature.

Educated within the
narrow precincts of the exiled court, James owed the good that was
within him to a disposition naturally humane, placable, and just, as
well as to the communion with a mother, the fidelity of whose attachment
to her exiled consort bespoke a finer quality of mind than that which
Nature had bestowed on the object of her devotion. By this mother James
must doubtless have been embued with a desire for recovering those
dominions and that power for which Mary of Modena, like Henrietta Maria,
sighed in vain, as the inheritance of her son;

but the stimulus was
applied to a disposition with which a private life was far more
consonant than the cares of sovereignty. Rising as he does to
respectability, when we contrast the good uature and mild good sense of
the Chevalier with the bigotry of James the 'Second,or view his career,
blameless wirh some exceptions, in contrast with the licentiousness of
Charles the Second, there were still no high hopes to be entertained of
the young Prince; his character had little energy, and consequently
little interest: he was affable, just, free from bigotry although firm
in his faith, and capable of great application to business ; but he
wanted ardour. From his negative qualities, the pitying world were
disposed to judge him favourably. "he began the world," says Lockhart,
"with the general esteem of mankind; but he sank year by year in public
estimation: his Court subsequently displayed the worst features of the
Stuart propensities, an intense love of prerogative; and his mind, never
strong, became weaker and weaker under the dominion of favourites."

The ship in which James
had sailed returned to France immediately to give the news of his safe
arrival, and at the same time Lieutenant Cameron, the son of Cameron of
Lochiel, was dispatched to Perth to apprise the Earl of Mar of the
event. Upon the spur of the moment the Earl, accompanied by the Earl
Marischal and General Hamilton, and attended by twenty or thirty persons
of quality, on horseback, set out with a guard of horse to attend him
whom they considered as their rightful Sovereign. The cavalcade met the
Chevalier at Fettcresso, the principal seat of the Earl Marischal.
"Here," says Reay, "the Chevalier dressed, and discovered himself," and
they all kissed his hand, and owned him as their King, causing him to be
proclaimed at the gates of the house. At Fetteresso the Prince was
detained during some days by that inconvenient malady the ague.
Meantime, the declaration which he had prepared, and which was dated
from Oommercv, was disseminated, and was dropped n some loyal towns by
his adherents in the night-time, there being danger in promulgating it
openly."

On the second of January,
1715-10, the Chevalier proceeded to Brechin, and thence to Kinnaird; and
on Thursday to Glamniis Castle, the seat of the Earl of Strathmore. On
the sixth of January he made his public entry into Dundee on horseback,
at an early hour. Three hundred followers attended him, and the Earl of
Mar rode on his right hand, the Earl Marischal on his left. At the
suggestion of his friends, the Prince shewed himself in the market-place
of Dundee for nearly an hour and a half, the people kissing his hands.
The following extract from a letter among the Mar Papers affords a more
minute and graphic account of the Chevalier's demeanour than is to be
found in the usual histories of the day.

"I hear the Pretender
went this day from Bams to Dundee, and comes to Scoon to-morrow; and I
am hourly informed that your old friend Willie Oallender went to Glams
on Wensday and kissed the Pretender's hand, of whom he makes great
speeches, and says he is one of the finest gentlemen ever he saw in his
life. Its well that his landing is keept up from the army, for he has
gained so much the good will of all ranks of people in this country that
have seen him, that if it was made publick it's thought it might have
ill effects among them. He is very affable and oblidging to all, and
great crowds o:.' the common people flok to him. When he toke horse this
morning from (Hams, there was about a thousand country people at the
gate, who they say, gave him many blessings: he has tuehed several of
the bil, as he did some this morning. He is of a very pleasant temper,
and has iutirely gained the hearts of all thro' the places he has
passed. He aplyes himself very closs to business, and they say might
very weeil be a Secretaric of State. He has declared Lord Mar-ischall
one of his bedchamber. The toun of Aberdeen made him ane address, as did
all the other touns as he passed; and I hear he is, at the request of
the episcopal clergy in this country, to apoint a day of thanksgiving
for his safe arival, and likeways a proclamation, to which will be
referred his declaration, with something new, which shall be sent to you
with first ocasion. There came a battalion of Bre-dalbins men to Perth
on Tuesday, and ane other of Sir Donald Mc Donalds this day ; and they
are now daily getting in more men.

"This is all the
intelligence I can give you, and I hope to hear from you again soon, and
lett me know what certain number are now come over, and what more
designed. Deliver the enclosed and tell him these papers could not be
gott him just now, but shall per next. I ame affraid poor W. Maxewell
wild be dead before you get this, of a fever and a flux: he is given
over this two days. "Write soon."

After the display at
Dundee, the Chevalier rode to the house of Stewart of Grandutly, in the
neighbour hood, where he dined and passed the. day. On the following day
he proceeded along the Carse of Gowrie to Castle Lyon, a seat of the
Earl of Strathmore, where he dined, and went thence to Fingask, the seal
of Sir David Threipland. On the eighth of January he took up his abode
in the royal palace of Scoon, where he intended to remain until after
his coronation.

For this event
preparations were actually made by the Earl of Mar, whose sanguine
spirit appears to have been somewhat revived by the presence of the
Chevalier. The addition of a new dignity to his own ancestral honours
had marked the favour and confidence of James. Before the arrival of the
Chevalier in Scotland, the Earl of Mar had been informed that a patent
of dukedom was made out for him, on which he thus expressed himself in a
letter, written before the Chevalier's landing, full of gratitude and
professions.

"Your Majesty has done
ine more honour than I deserve. The new dignity you have been pleased to
confer on me is what I was not looking for; and coming from your
Majesty's hands is what gives it the value. The patent is not yet come,
but tho' it had, I think I ought not to make use of it till your
Majesty's arrival."

The Earl of Mar had now
had an opportunity of throwing himself at the feet of the King, which,
as he expressed, " is the thing in the world he had longed most for" But
still, the difficulties in his path seemed to be rendered more
insurmountable than ever by the arrival of James.

In the first place, the
landing of the Chevalier evidently sealed the doom of those gallant and
unfortunate noblemen who had been taken prisoners at Preston; and
rendered all hopes of mercy futile. The sixteenth of January, which
witnessed the forming of the Chevalier's council at Berth, was the day
on which the unfortunate Derwentwater, Nithisdale, Kenmure, Wintoun, and
Widdrington, petitioned for two days' delay to prepare for their trials.
Their doom was hurried on in the general panic; and in the addresses
from both Houses of Parliament to King George, it was declared by the
members of those assemblies that the lauding of the Pretender in this
kingdom had greatly encreased their indignation against him and his
adherents."

It is impossible that the
Earl of Mar could have heard, without deep commiseration, and perhaps
remorse, of the peril in which those ill-fated adherents of James were
placed, although he may not have anticipated the full severity of the
law. In one of his subsequent letters he remarks: "By the news I see the
Parliament is to have no mercie on our Preston folks: but I hope God
will send them salvation in time." One of his greatest sources of
anxiety had been respecting the movements of the Duke of Ormond, upon
whose making a diversion in favour of James, in England, Mar had
counted. The news that Ormond, after having been seen on the coast of
England, had returned, disheartened, was brought by the Chevalier, who
heard of it at St. Maloes. The only chance of success, the last hope,
were centered in this resource. The failure of this expectation was
fatal, as Lord Mar conceived, to the cause, and on it he grounded his
own subsequent withdrawal from England.

The entrance of the
Chevalier into Perth, on the ninth of January, was attended with far
less enthusiasm than the previous portion of his progress, his reception
was comparatively cold. On asking to see their little kings (the
chieftains) with their armies, the Highlanders, diminished in numbers by
the secession of the Marquis of Huntley and the absence of Lord Seaforth
and others, were marched before him. James could not help admiring their
bearing; but the small amount of troops in the camp filled him with a
dejection which he could not conceal. When, a few days afterwards, the
unfortunate Prince addressed his council for the first time, he said,
with mournful truth, these words. "For me, it will be no new thing if I
am unfortunate: my whole life, even from my cradle, has been a constant
series of misfortunes." This sentiment of id-presage was re-echoed in
the address of the Episcopal clergymen.

"Your Majesty has been
trained up," said these divines, at Fetterosso, "in the School of the
Cross, in which the Divine grace inspires the mind with true wisdom and
virtue, and guards it against those false blandishments by which
prosperity corrupts the heart." And as this school has sent forth the
most illustrious princes,Moses, Joseph, and David, it was hoped that a
similar benefit would accrue to the character of the Prince whom the
Episcopal Clergy thus welcomed to their country.

Meantime the project of
crowning the Chevalier at Scone amused the minds of the people, and
continued to be the subject of diligent preparation by the Earl of Mar.
Unhappily a ship laden with money and other aids, had been lost on its
passage from France, close to the Tay, for want of a pilot* The
difficulties which were augmented by this misfortune, are alluded to in
the following extract from one of Lord Mar's letters.

*Mar Papers.

Karl of mar

"January 15th, 1715-16.

"Sir,

"1 wrote to you yesterday
by one that used to come here from Mr. Ilall, which I hope will come
safe to your hands. At night I had yours of the fourteenth, and this
night that of the tenth. The caps do pritty well, and I have orders to
thank you for them. I send you one of his own; if you can get such paper
t'is well, and if not, the other is what he likes best of any that you
sent; so let some of either one or other come when you have an occasion.

"I am sorry Mr. Brewer is
ill, for his presence here would be of great use; and as soon as he is
able I wish he would come, which I am ordered to tel you, and also that
you may endeavour to get a copie of the coronation of King Charles the
First and Second, which certainly are to be had in Edinburgh. Willie
Wilson had them, and perhaps some of his friends may have got copies of
them from him, which may be had.

"I spoke, to one some
time ago about makeing a crown in pices at Edinburgh and bringing it
over here to be put togither, who, I believe, talkt to you of it. That
man was here some days ago, but went away before I knew it is wisht that
such a thing could yet be done, which is left to your care.

"In case there be
occasion for it here, as I wish there may, bulion gold is what I'm
atraid will be wanting, but it will not take much. Had not the
misfortune I wrote to you of hapn'd to Sir J, Erskilter there had been
no want of that. We have got no farther account of that affair, tho' we
have people about it; but if they do not succeed this night or to-morrow
when the spring tide is, it is lost for ever. There is more by the way
tho', and I hope will have better fate. 1 have ordered more papers to be
sent you, and certainly you have more of them before now. It is mighty
well taken what that lady (the letters from London say) has ordered, as
to those you sent her, which you are desired to let her have; and I do
not doubt she will do the same as to those concerning E -d. Adieu."

By the next letter it
appears that the good opinion entertained by Lord Mar of the Chevalier
was real; since the whole of the epistle has the tone of being a natural
effusion of feeling, and is a simple statement of what actually took
place, and not the letter of a diplomatist.

"Sir,

"I have seen a letter
from Mr. Sg, who had spoke with you on the subject I formerly wrote to
you of, concerning that fofy of the Dh to a gentleman with us, Mr. Sq's
friend, and upon it our master has thought fit to write the enclosed to
him, and orders me to tell you that you must cause give him an hundred
guineas at the delivery of the letter. The letter is left open for your
perusal, and I wish it may have effect, as perhaps it may. There's no
time to be lost in it, and I'll lung to know what passes in it, and what
hopes you have of him. I sent you credit for five hundred pounds, which
I hope you got safe; but if by any accident it should not come to your
hands, Mr. Sq there, is a certain goldsmith that will advance what
there is occasion for this way. I send you enclosed a letter, which may
be of use in an affair 1 wrote of in my last.

"We have got sevorall
deserters since the K. came, and last night nine came in with their
clothes and arms, and says many more will follow soon, which I wish wc
may see. They say, too, that the two regiments of dragoons are marcht
from Glasgow for England, and that two are to go from Stirling to
replace them. Were they designing to march against Scoon, sure they
would not do this, nor is it possible they can do anything in this
weather; but if they, notwithstanding, attempt it, perhaps they may find
frost in it.

"As I am writing I have
received yours of the thirteenth. I read it to the Kg, and delivered
him the enclosed letter from Mr. Holmes, which was very well taken, as
you will see by the enclosed return, which you'll take care to forward
safely; and pray do me the favour to make my compliments there.

"Perhaps you'll hear
things of the two northern powers* that will look odd to your other
friends, as no wonder; but all will come right againthe time they had
taken coming out in a few days. There's one sent some days ago to assist
them, so 1 hope things will he soon right there, tho' they have, done
much to spoil them, and each of them makes an excuse of one another as
they have done from the begining. The R, you will see hy all the
enclosed, is not spareing of his pains. You must fall on the right way
of having them all delivered.

"That to Seaforth he
writes upon the great professions he made when in France; he is such a
fellow that I'm afraid it will do little good.

"1 have nothing else
material to say just now, hut I cannot give over without telling a thing
which I'm sure will please youthat the longer one knows the King the
better he's fed, and the more good qualities are found in him; that of
good-nature is very eminent, and so much good sense that he might be a
first minister to any king in Europe, had he not been born a king
himself. He has allowed Neil Campbell to go to Edinburgh t'other day on
his parole, he being ill, and ;t was with so much good nature that was
evident in his doing of it, that it-charmed me. I wish you could get
notice how Neil represents it or expresses himself when he gets there;
for I wrote it at length to the gentleman who wrote to me about him.
Adieu.

"If people from Sq be
designing to come to us, they should either do it soon or give us
assurances of doing it soon as we are iu view of each other; and these
assurances must be such that we can depend on, for our conduct must in a
great measure be regulated by what we expect that way.

"It were highly necessary
that methods and measures were concerted for the right way of doing
this, which you should let such of them as you know are so trusted know,
and it is absolutely necessary that they either send one to me about
this, or let me know it certainly some other way, that we may not be
ilrawing different ways when we are designing the same thing.

"We have no return of the
last message which was sent to the good man of the house you wrote of,
and t'is above eight days ago. I believe he designs right, tho' t'is
odd."

The enthusiasm which was
at first displayed towards the Chevalier was soon cooled, not only by
his grave and discouraging aspect, but by his fearless and impolitic
display of his religious faith. He never allowed any "Protestant even to
say grace for him, but employed his own contessor " to repeat the Pater
nosters and Ave Marias: and he also shewed an invincible objection to
the usual coronation oath, a circumstance which deferred the ceremony
of coronation,Bishop Mosse declaring that he would not consent to crown
him unless that oath were taken. This sincerity of dispositionfor it
cannot be called by a more severe nameespecially diminished, the
affections of the Chevalier's female episcopal friends, who had excited
their male relations to bear arms in his favour. But the circumstance
which weighed the. most heavily against James, was the order which he
published, on hearing that the Duke of Argyle was making preparations to
march against hirn, for burning the towns and villages, and destroying
the corn and forage, between Dumblane and Perth. This act of
destruction, from the effects of which the desolate village, of
Auchterarder has never recovered, was determined on, in order that the
enemy might be incommoded as much as possible upon their march; it added
to the miseries of a people already impoverished by the taxes and
contributions which the Jacobites had levied. It appears, however, from
a letter of James's, since discovered, or perhaps, only suppressed at
the time, to have been an act which he bitterly regretted, and the order
for which he signed most unwillingly. He was desirous of making every
reparation in his power for the ravages which were committed in his
name.*

On the ninth of January a
council of war was held by the Duke of Argyle at Stirling, where, by a
singular coincidence, the council sat in the same room in which James
the Second, then Duke of York, had, in 1680, been entertained by the
Earl of Argyle, to whom he had proposed the repeal of the sanguinary
laws against Papists. The refusal of Argyle. to concur in that measure,
the consequences of his conduct, and his subsequent death, are
circumstances which, doubtless, arose to the remembrance of his
descendant, as lie discussed, in that apartment, the march towards
Perth.

The country between
Stirling and Perth was covered with a deep snow ; the weather was one
continual storm; it was therefore impossible for the army of Argyle to
proceed until the roads were cleared,a process which required some time
to effect. It is asserted, nevertheless, by an historian, that upon
Colonel Ghest being sent with two hundred dragoons to reconnoitre the
road leading to Perth, that the greatest panic prevailed in that town:
immediate preparations were made for defence, and nothing was to be seen
except planting of guns, marking out breastworks and trenches, and
digging up stones, and laying them with sand to prevent the effects of a
bombardment.* The Earl of Mar, nevertheless, does not appear, if we may
accredit his own words, to have even then despaired of a favourable
issue. The following letter betrays no fear, but speaks of some more
inconvenience, which is far from being of a melancholy description. The.
difficulty of procuring the right sort of ribbon for the decoration of
the Garter, is altogether a new feature, among the adversities of royal
personages. It seems strange that James should not have provided
himself, before quite ting France, with all that was necessary to
preserve the external semblance of majesty.

"January 20th, 1715-10.

"Sir,

"I wrote to you the
eighteenth, and sent severall others enclosed, which I hope will come
safe to you. The inclosed, raarkt D. F., is from the Ring to Davie Floid
at London, which he desires you may take care to gett conveid to him
safly and soon, it being of consequence. The other is for my wife, which
I beg you may forward as usewall.

"We are told that ther's
some foot come to Dumblain, and that ther's more expected there. And
they still talk as if they designed to march their whole armie against
us nixt week. Perhaps they intend it, but with this weather I see not
how 'tis in their power. If they do tho', upon their expecting we are to
abandon Perth upon their aproach, as I'm told they believe, they will
find themselves mistaken, for all here are resolved to stand it to the
last, and perhaps we will not wait their comeing the lenth, but meet
them by the way. We might have left it indeed, some time ago; but that
time is past, and the King's being with us alters the case in every
respect. After all, I cannot get myself to belive that they will
actually come to us in haste, and if they do they may inistake their
reekuing. Sure I am, it were impossible for us to march to them in this
snow, and our folks are as good at that as they. The snow puts me in
mind of the children of Israel's pillar of smoke and pillar of fire; and
to say truth, ther's something in the weather very odd and singular; I
never saw such.

"My cloathes are almost
all worn out, haveing left some at the battle: I know not if you could
get me any made and sent from Edinburgh; but if you could, I should be
glad of it. Ther's one Bird was my tayler, and I belive has my measur,
or some old cloathes of mine, that he could make them by. Perhaps he's a
whig tho', and will not do it. I would have them deep blew, laced with
gold, but not on the seams. I have but one starr and no riban, but 'tis
no great matter for that, a better man than I is in the same case; he
has only one scrub, one which he got made since he came, and no right
riban. I believe ther's neither of that kind of blew nor green riban to
be got at Edinburgh; but if you could get some tolorablie like it, You
send some of both. Wine is like to be a more sensible want. We got a
little Burgundy for the King, but it is out; and tho' we know of a
little more, I'm affraid we shall scarce get it brought here; and he
does not like clarit, but what you'l think odd, he likes ale tolorably
well. I hope they will send us some from France, but with this wind
nothing can come from thence. George Hamilton saild on Saturday last,
and I belive is there long e'er now, which I heartily wish he may, and I
hope you shall soon see the effects of his going with what he caried
with him.

"I am affraid Macintosh's
men in England may be in hard circumstances for want of money. The King
has ordred some for them, which is this daye given to a friend of theirs
who was sent to me from the North, who sayes he knows how to get it
remitted to them.

"By the news I see the
Parliament is to have no meroie on our Preston folks, hut I hope God
will send them salvation in time.

"I wish you would send us
the newspapers oftner, for we get them but seldome; the soonest way of
sending them is by A. W. at Kirkaldy, who wid find some way of sending
them to us, notwithstanding of their garisons in Fife.

"I'm affraid what I wrote
to you of formerly to be in danger will never be recovered, for it could
not at this time, tho' it was trv'd; and I fear shall not the next
either, tho' we are to do all we can about it, and it was too much to go
that way.

"We have heard nothing
further as yet from the goodman of the house, as you call him, which I
am surprized at. I can say no more now, so Adieu "

If we may believe the
public prints of the day, dissensions now arose between the Chevalier
and the Earl of Mar: the former blaming his general for having urged him
to come over, when he had so small a force to appear in his favour; the
latter, recriminating that the failure of aid from the Continent had
discouraged the Chevalier's friends. The Earl of Mar was severely
blamed, to quote from the same source, for having deceived the Chevalier
in making him believe that the forces in Scotland were more considerable
than they really were, and for giting his Scottish friends reason to
suppose that the Chevalier would bring over foreign auxiliaries. That
the former part of those allegations against Mar was untrue, is shewn by
the letter which has been given, explaining to the Prince the state of
affairs; and rather discouraging him from his attempt.That the whole
report was groundless, was manifested by the favour and confidence which
James long continued to extend to the Earl after his exile abroad.

For some time, the Earl
of Mar and his party contrived to keep up their hopes. The season was
indeed in some respects their friend, since it necessarily impeded the
movements of Argyle's army against them. The winter of 1715-16 was one
of the most severe that had been felt for many years, not only in
Scotland, but abroad. In France and Spain the cold was so excessive, and
the snow so deep, that the country people could not go to the market
towns to buy provisions, whilst the plains were infested with bears and
wolves, emboldened by the desolation, and ranging over the country in
great numbers.

Whilst the intense frost
lasted, the three thousand Highlanders who were encamped at Perth were
able to defy the English army , although now supplied with artillery and
amunition from Berwick. Their security was furthermore increased hy a
heavy fall of snow succeeding a partial thaw, and followed by a frost,
which rendered the roads more impracticable than ever, especially for
the foot-soldiers. This circumstance had even occasioned some
deliberation whether It would not be advisable for the Duke of Argyle to
defer his march to Perth until the winter should be ended. Until the
middle of January, it was the full intention of the Highlanders, and
also that of the Earl of Mar, to stand the event of a battle, let the
enemy's force be what it might. That they purposed thus to maintain
their ancient character for valour, was, even as those most adverse to
them allow, the prevalent report. It is borne out by the Earl of Mar's
correspondence. On the twenty-third of January he thus writes to Captain
Straiton:

"The 23rd January.

"I have yours of the
seventeenth and the twentieth both togather last night, and a paket from
it in the last. I wrote to you on Saturday the old way, and sent you a
paket enclosed, which I belive is of consequence, so I hope it's come
safe, and that H. has gott it. He has had two or three sent him from
this of late, different ways, and one goes of this day by the near way
he sometimes uses. We hear from all hands of the preparations against
us, but we resolve to stand it, cost what it will, and if they come out
we will certainly give them battle, lett their number be never so great.
It must now be plain to all that will allow themselves to see, that
nothing less is designed by the present managers than the intire ruin
and destruction of this poor country, and of every honest man in it; and
if this wil1 not be an awakened people, I know nothing that will. Since
this then s plainly the case, there can be no choise in dying honourably
in the field for so just a cause, or leving to see the ruin and intire
destruction of our couutry, our King, and our friends and relations. For
my part, I shall prefer the first with all cheerfulness, and never
desire to live to be a witness to the latter, which certainly will be
the case it' it please God our King should be defeat."

The next paragraph of
this letter speaks mournfully of disappointment in those on whose aid
the Earl had counted.

"It must be a strange
infatuation that has gott amongst people, especially those that always
pretended to be friends to our cause, many of whom told before the King
came that they wad certainly juyn him when he landed, and made his not
being with us the only objection, and now when he is come they make some
other shift;I must say such people are worse than our greatest enemies;
and if any misfortune should befal the King or his cause, (which God
forbid!) I think they that pretended to be our friends have very much to
count for, and are more the cause of it than any others, since no doubt
the ashourances that many gave to toyn us when the King landed was a
chief motive for his comming to us. I hope in Go<l we shall he able to
opose them tho' their numbers should be greater, aud to their shame and
confusion be it if they come against us. I hope very soon the King will
have such assistance as will defeat all their designs, and that his
affairs will take a sudden turn in other pairts."

The most serious
defection from the Jacobite cause was the submission of the Marquis of
Huntley and the Earl of Seaforth to the victorious arms of the Earl of
Sutherland, aided by Lord Lovat, in Invernesshirc. Seaforth had
collected, on the Moor of Gilliechrist, twelve hundred men, the remnant
of those whom he had been able to save from Sherriff Muir; but finding
that Lord Sutherland had resolved to force him into an engagement, he
owned King George as his lawful Sovereign, and promised to lay down his
arms. This had occurred early in December, and, according to Lord Mar,
before the Earl of Seaforth, in those remote regions, could have heard
of the- Chevalier's landing. Mar therefore regarded it as a temporary
cessation on the part of Seaforth and Huntley, for a given period, of
hostilities against the Government.

As far as related to Lord
Seaforth, the belief of Lord Mar was correct. At the. end of the days
agreed upon for the cessatiou of arms, Seaforth drew his people
together, the influence of clanship enabling him to summon them at will,
like a king; and again appeared in arms. This was the consequence of the
news that James had landed having reached Inverness. But Seaforth could
not retrieve the cause of James in the North, nor repair the effects of
even a temporary submission. Eventually he returned to the party which
he had espoused, and escaped to France. The Marquis of Huntley made his
own terms with the Government.

At this critical
juncture, unanimity still prevailed, according to Lord Mar, among the
assembled chieftains at Berth. "I do assure you.'" he writes, "that
since the arms came here, there has not been a quarrel of any kind
happened among usnot even among the Highland men, which is very
extraordinary; and you may depend upon it there is the greatest
unanimity here just now, and all fully resolved to stand to it, let what
will come. I pray God preserve our King from the wicked and hellish
designs of his enemies! I hope we will be apprized of their motions, so
as to be in readiness to receive them."

These expressions were
written, but the letter which contained them was not sent, on the
twenty-third of January. The postscript, written in a hurried hand,
shows that the camp at Perth was not unprepared for the coming attack.

"Since writing of the
inclosed, I have two from you which I gott last night with the paket;
and one account of that detachment of horse comming out, who we hear
came the lenth of Acterardie, upon, which account the whole army here,
were ordred to be in a readyness to march this morning, and we have no
account they are returned: We hear it was to new the roads, and to try
if it was practicable to march their army, which they will find very
hard to doe while this weather holds. The account you gave in yours of
their motions and that detachment, was very distinct. They. read it
himself,it came prety quick. I entreat you fail not to kit us have what
accounts you can learn, for what comes from you are among the best we
can gett.

"The K. ordered a review
of the whole army here this morning, and they are all to hold themselves
ready at one half one hour's advertisment. Lett me hear from you soon.
Adieu."

Again, on the
twenty-fourth of January:

"What is above should
have gone this morning, but was delved. Six hundered of the clans are
gone, out this night to runforce the garison of Braco and Crief. I hear
they have orders to destroy the corn-yards and barns about Achterardir
and Black Ford, which we hear were revewed by the enemy yesterday. The
King signed thir orders, I can ashour you, most unwillingly; and caused
put it in the order that every thing should be made good to the poor
people; with a gratuity; and if any of them pleased to come, to Perth,
they should be maintained and all care taken of them. This you may take
for truth, for no doubt they will make a great noise about it.

"We have just now got ane
account of a ship being come into Montross, but we know not yett what
she brings. Adieu, writte soon. I am in haste."

"Eleven att night."

On the twenty-fourth of
January, the Duke of Argyle marched to Dumblane, with two hundred horse,
to reconnoitre the roads. The report that the enemy was approaching, was
quickly conveyed to Perth; and now was the order to burn and destroy the
village of Auchterarder, the contents of the houses, all stores of corn
and forage, mournfully and promptly executed. It was supposed by this,
that the march of Argyle's forces would be impeded; but it produced no
other inconvenience to that army than obliging them to lie one night hi
the open air; whilst the unpopularity I brought on James and his
advisers, was long the subject of comment to their enemies. It is
consolatory to those who wish to judge favourably of James to find this
declaration m Lord Mar's correspondence.

"The King was forced,
sore against his will, to give these burning orders, as all of us were,
could we have helped it; but this extraordinary manoeuvre of the enemy
made it absolutely necessary. A finger must be cut off to save the whole
body. I have ordered some copies of a proclamation to be sent you

There Is about two of the
places burnt, and there's another ordred about the rest. Adieu.

"It was not amiss that
this proclamation were sent to Loudon."

In pursuance of the cruel
and impolitic commands, to which Lord Mar refers, three thousand
Highlanders were sent forth to the act of destruction. Auchterarder,
Crieff, Blackford, Denning and Muthel, were mercilessly burned; and the
wretched inhabitants turned out at that inclement season to destitution,
without a roof to shelter them. Many decrepid people and children
perished in the flames. Had James sought, in truth, to prepare a way for
the Government in the hearts of the people, he could not have adopted a
more suitable means. In the Duke of Argyle, he had a generous and humane
adversary to deal with,one whose forbearance laid him under the
imputation of a want of zeal for the cause of the Government, and
rendered him no favourite at the English Court. The fashion at the Court
of St. James's, according to a letter in the Mar Papers, was, to rail
against the Duke, and even George the First and those about him joined
in the unjust and ungrateful abuse.

Even so late as Sunday,
the twenty-ninth of January, when Argyle's troops left Stirling and
advanced to Braco Castle, Lord Mar appears to have been iu ignorance of
their actual movements. Perhaps, like the busy world of London
politicians, he regarded the project of an attempt upon Perth in such
weather as impracticable. Such was the opinion at St. James's. "Argyle's
friends here," writes one near the Court, "speak of the march and the
attempt at present as madness." And another individual writes, that "one
half of their people must die of cold, and the other be knocked o' the
head. So it seems Argyle is dragg'd to this matter. We cannot perceive,
by all the letters that come up, any particular certainty as to Lord
Mar's number and. his designs. The Court are positive he will not stand;
and they, as well as Ridpeath, assert strongly that the Pretender is
gone already as far as Glammis. The Jacobites fancy that if he went
thither, it was to meet and assemble these officers that were landed."

Whilst in this state of
perplexity Lord Mar thus writes:

"Jan. 29th.

"Sir,

"I have keept the man
that brought yours of the nineteenth and twentieth, from A. W., on
Saturday, till now, that I might have a sure and speedy way of writeing
to you when anything of consequence happened, which we were expecting
every minute last night. I wrote one to you when I belived the enemie's
front to be at Auchterarder, and despatcht it; but late at night getting
intelligence of that party of the enemie who were marching towards
Aucterarder haveing marcht hack without comeing the lenth of that place
to Dumblaine if not to Stirling, without halting by the way, I stopt my
letter and kepp it till they actually march, and then perhaps I may yet
send it to you, there being some other things in it necessary for you to
know upon that emergance which is needless other wayes.

"In it I told you of my
haveing received yours of the eighteenth on Sunday, and last night those
of the fifteenth and twenty-first both togither.

"By all appearance the
enemie resolve to march against us, as one might say, whether it be
possible or not. They sent a party of horse and foot to Dumblain on
Sunday, which came near to Auchterarder yesterday, I belive to try if
the thing was practicable, but they returned to Duinblain as above. We
shall be forced to burn and distroy a good deal of the country to
prevent their marching, which goes very, very much against the King's
mind, as it does mine and more of us; but ther's an absolat necessity
for it, and I believe it will be put in execution this night or
to-morrow morning, which grieves me. Could it be helpt? this way of
their makeing warr in this, I may say, impracticable season, must have
extraordinary methods to oppose it. And I hope in God, any that suffers
now, it shall soon be in the King's power to make them a large
reparation. After all, when they have no cover left them, I see not how
it is possible for them to march. We are like to be froze in the house;
and how they can endure the cold for one night in the fields, I cannot
conceive; and then the roads are so, that but one can go abreast, as
their party did yesterday; and ther's no going off the road for horse
and scarce for foot, without being lost in the snow; but if, after all,
they do march, we must do our best, and I hope God will preserve and yet
prosper the King, who is the best prince I belive in the world.

"As for news in the
kingdome of Fife, I suppose you would hear that a party of the McGrigors
some dayes ago from Faulkland attacquet a party of Swise and militia
from Leslie, and beat them, takoing thirty-two prisoners, wherof eleven
horse, as I hear. I have not time to say more, so adieu."

"Januarv 29th, 1715-16."

Again, in another letter
on the same day, the Earl still seems to consider the game as not then
lost. It is amusing to find how, in the carrying on of his projects, he
availed himself of the aid of ladies, and how troubled he sometimes
found himself with "busie women." Whilst this letter was being penned,
Argyle was employing the country people around Auchterarder in clearing
the roads of snow: and, on the following day, he had advanced towards
Tullibardine, within eight miles of Perth. On that very Sunday, Lord Mar
thus writes: it is evident he had at this time formed no plan ox
retreat.

"Sunday, 11 o'clock
forenoon, Janu 29tth, 1715-16.

"Sir,

"Since I wrote to you I
have got yours of the twenty-second, one of the twenty-third, and two of
the twenty-fifth; the. last of which, tho' the first wrote, I got not
til this morning. I would have wrote to you these, two dayes by post,
hut we have had so many alarms of the enimie's marching towards us, that
I had not time, as I have very little to say anything just now, for 1
expect ivory miuut to hear of their heing marcht from Dumblain, where a
considerable number of them have been these two dayes this way.

"The enclosed you must
take care to send by the first post which is opened again on purpose for
you to read, but I'm aifraid you will not understand it all. As to that
paper you sent me which came from England, there can be nothing said to
it from hence just now, only that they are to do the best they can; and
I hope shortly that country shall have sent them where withall to enable
them to make a better figur than they have hitherto done. We are not in
a condition here to give them any help just now. Ther's one Mrs. Lawson,
who seems to be a diligent body, that complains a little that you do not
allow her to see you often enough, which I take to be the complaint of
an over busie woman, than which ther's nothing more uneasie; hut just
now such people must be humoured, and she has really been usefull.
Before this goes 'tis very likely I may have, occassion to inclose one I
formerly wrote to you upon a certain occasion, but did not then send as
I told you in another, the tiling not then hapning, but we expect it
every minut. Desertors of' all kinds come in to us pritty fast,
foreigners as well as subjects; and if they but give them time, I am
perswaded great numbers will.

""tis now five o'clock
and we have no accounts of any of the enimie being come further than
Dodoch, where a partie of them came last night, so I'll detain the
messenger. This goes by no stranger. Perhaps they may find the roads
impracticable, and by the burning that they can advance no further,at
which, indeed, I shall not be much surprised; arid if so, may be forced
to delay their extraordinary march til more human weather for making
warr. The King was forced, sore against his will, to give these burning
orders,as all of us were, could wee have helpt it; but this extrodinar
manuver of the enimie made it absolutly necessary: a fingor must be cut
of to save the whole body. I have ordered some copies of a proclamation
to be sent you, there is about two of the places burnt, and ther's
another order about the rest. Adieu.

"It were not amiss that
this proclamation was sent to London. The little young letter enclosed
to for Lady Wigton, which pray cause deliver."

On Tuesday, the last day
of January, the Duke of Argyle passed the river Eru, and took possession
of Tuliibardine. It has been stated by several historians that the
Jacobites fled from Perth on the same day; but the following letter from
Lord Mar, dated the first of February, shows that the flight coidd not
have taken place until the following day. This curious letter, which was
written at the early hour of six in the morning, is unfinished. It is
the last m the series of that correspondence which has formed of itself
a narrative of Lord Mar's life, from his first taking upon himself the
office of General and Commander-in-Chief, to the hour when he virtually
resigned that command. In the midst of pressing danger his sanguine
nature seems not to have deserted him: his love of the underplots of
life, the influence of "Kate Bruce," and the arrangements for a
coronation, were as much in his thoughts as in the more hopeful days
before Sherriff Muir and Preston.

"Wednesdav, about fix
forenoon, February 1st, 1710.

"On Monday evening I gave
you the trouble of a greatly long letter, mostly on indifferent
subjects, and sent it off yesterday to A. W. If I was too tedious upon
what concerned a woman and a Prince, it was with a good intent, and to
make matters plain. By what I hear from R. B., and the Hule, that
Argyle's forces were yesterday forenoon at Stirling, and so was the
regiments of dragoons there and St. Ninian's, for accounts of motions
there and thereabouts, on both sydes of the river,you may expect it
best sent from R. B., the Hule, and a grave gentleman.

"By yesternight's post I
sent of McQuart's letter; .and indeed, in most or all letters I write to
that quarter for ten weeks past, I alwayes requested that whatever was
to be done might be quickly done. I lykeways sent to London between fyve
or six, several honest hands, to put off the proclamation declaration
about burning, and that paper of which I some days ago sent you two
copies. And now I begin to think I have been in the wrong to Mr. S-g, in
the short character I gave you of him, at least, if it be true that I am
told, that he is not only author of that paper I sent you the two copies
of, but has got a very great number of them printed; and tho' I may be
an insufficient judge, I must acknowledge I am very well pleased with
the paper, for I think it full of plain truths; and besydes other
dispersings, I did indeed yesterday cause putt in hftein copies of it in
the Lords of Session's boxes.

"The litle letter to my
good Lady W.* I caused carefully to be delivered. I wish all women had
some share of her good, sweet, easie temper, for, as you wul observe,
over-busied women are most uneasie; and I have had much experience of it
within these four months past in many instances, and with more persons
than one or two. The only inconvenience I had by Ivace Bruce lodging in
the same house with me was, it brought in too many women upon me, and
some of these brought in others, and to this minute I cannot with
descretion get quit of them.

"A good time ago you were
pleased to tell me you could not well conceive how I got myself keept
free, but if you now knew what a multitude knows where I lodge, you
would wonder more; and indeed it is no litle admiration to myself: but
as soon as I have so much strenth, and can fvnd a convenient place
(which is not easie), I will change my quarters, if it were for no other
reason than to be quit of useless people of both sexes, that interrupt
me from busieness, or trouble with impertinent questions. And whyle I am
accuseing others of indescretion, I wish I am not so myself in so much
insisting upon and troubling you with such matters.

"At Perth I have gott a
collection of all papers relating to the coronation of King Charles the
First and Second, and shall send them whenever you think fitt; but I
suppose it may be convenient to lett the present hurrie a little over
before I send them to you.

"How the great Generalls
can imploy their hors to great purpose in the deep snow, or how men and
hors will long hold out in such weather, is what I do not understand. I.
hope a shorter time than they imagine will destroy, even without the
help of an enemy,at least, make many, both men and hors, inserviceable."

Much had been going on in
the meantime, to which Lord Mar, perhaps from the fear of spreading a
panic, does not even allude to his correspondent in Edinburgh. When it
became known in Perth that Argyle had left Stirling, the advisers of the
Chevalier were dismayed and distracted by contending counsels. But the
mass of the army expressed a very different sentiment, rejoicing that
the opportunity of a rencontre with the enemy was so near:
Congratulations were heard passing from officers to their brother
officers, and the soldiers, as they drank, pledged ther cups to the good
day near at hand. The council, meantime, sat all night: the irresolution
of that body, towards morning, was disclosed to the impatient soldiery:
the indignation of the brave men, and more especially of the
Highlanders, burst forth upon the disclosure of what had passed in the
council. The gentlemen volunteers resented the pusillanimity of their
leaders: and one of them was heard to propose that the clans should take
the Chevalier out of the hands of those who counselled him to retreat,
and added that he would find ten thousand gentlemen in Scotland that
would risk their lives for him. A friend of Mar, after remonstrating
with these malcontents, asked "What they wished their officers to do?"
"Do!" was the reply; "what did you call on us to take arms for? was it
to run away? What did the King come hither for? was it to see his people
butchered by hangmen and not strike a note for their lives? Let us die
like men, and not like dogs."

On the thirtieth of
January the Chevalier himself opened another council in the evening, and
in a few-words proposed a retreat. Lord Mar then addressed the meeting,
and advocated the measure with a degree of ingenuity and eloquence
which, at that moment, we are disposed rather to condemn than applaud;
yet, his reasons for abandoning Perth were such, as in cool reflection
were not devoid of justice, and they might be founded upon a humane
consideration for the brave adherents of a lost cause. He stated, first,
as the cause of his proposal, the failure of the Duke of Ormond's
invasion of England. Secondly, the accession of foreign troops to the
Duke of Argyle's force. Lastly, the reduced number of the Chevalier's
troops, which then amounted to four thousand, only two thousand three
hundred of which were properly armed. Even in that weak condition the
Chevalier would, according to Lord Mar's subsequent statement, gladly
have maintained Perth, or ventured a battle; but when the enemy with an
army of eight thousand men were actually advanced near to the place, it
was found impracticable to defend Perth, the town being little more at
that time than an open village; and the river Tay on one side, and the
fosse on the other, being both frozen over, it would have been easy to
enter the town at any quarter. Added to this, the mills had been long
stopped by the frost, so that there were not above two days' provision
in the town. There were no coals to be procured: the enemy had
possession of the coal mines in Fife, and wood was scarce. The Earl also
contended that the Highlanders, however able in attack, were not
accustomed to the defence of towns.

Reasons equally cogent
were employed against going out to fight the enemy, and a retreat
northwards was at length proposed. But it was no easy task to bring the
brave spirits who had hailed the approach of Argyle, to accord in
sentiments which might spring from discretion, but which ill agreed with
the Highland notions of honour. The council, after a stormy debate, was
broken up in confusion, and adjourned until the next morning.

Some hours afterwards, a
few, who were favourable to the abandonment of Perth, were summoned
privately by Lord Mar; and it was then agreed not to fight, but to
retreat. For a time this determination was concealed from the bulk of
the army, but it gained wind; and on the evening of the thirty-first of
January, eight hundred of the Highlanders indignantly left Perth, and
retired beyond Dunkeld, to their homes. That very night, also, the
Chevalier, who had far less of the Scottish Stuart within him than of
that modified and inferior variety exemplified in the British line of
the family, disappeared from the town, and repaired to Scone. He supped
and slept in the house of the Provost Hay; and on the following morning,
at an early hour, was ready for retreat. To do the Chevalier justice,
there was, according to Lord Mar's journal, much difficulty in
persuading him to this step: it was found necessary to convince him that
it had become a duty to retire from the pursuit of the Government,
which, as long as he was in the country, would never cease to persecute
his followers, who could not make any terms of capitulation so long as
he remained. He was obliged, at last, to consent: "And, I dare say,"
adds Lord Mar, ''no consent he ever gave was so uneasy to him as this
was." Of that point it would be satisfactory to be well assured.

On the first of February,
four hours after the unfinished letter of Lord Mar was written, the
Jacobites abandoned Perth, and crossing the frozen stream of the Tay,
took their route to Dundee. They went forth in such precipitation, that
they left their cannon behind them,a proof that they never hoped to
oppose again the victorious arms of Argyle. About noon the Chevalier,
accompanied by Lord Mar, followed his people towards the North. He is
said to have been disconsolate,and, shedding tears, to have complained
"that instead of bringing him a crown, they had brought him to his
grave." This murmur and these tears having been reported to Prince
Eugene, of Savoy, that General remarked "that weeping was not the way to
conquer kingdoms."!

The Jacobites marched
direct for Dundee, along the Carse of Gowrie. The Duke of Argyle's
forces entered Perth only two hours after the Highland army had entirely
cleared the Tay, which, happily for their retreat, was frozen over with
ice of an extraordinary thickness. At Dundee the Chevalier rested one
night only; hut leaving it on the second of February, was again
succeeded by Argyle and his squadrons, who arrived there on the
following day.

The unfortunate Prince
pursued his way to Montrose. His route along the sea-coast gave credence
to a report which had now gained ground, of his intention of embarking
for France. The loudest murmurs again ran through the Highland forces,
worthy of a noble leader, and the sight of some French vessels lying
near the shore confirmed the general suspicion. This was, nevertheless,
somewhat allayed by an order to the clans to march that evening at eight
o'clock to Aberdeen, where, in accordance with the crooked policy and
deceptive plan of Lord Mar, it was represented that large supplies of
troops and arms would meet them from France. But a very different scheme
was in agitation among those who governed the feeble James, and perhaps,
with right motives, guided him to his safety.

A small ship lay in the
harbour of Montrose, for the purpose, originally, of carrying over an
envoy from James to some foreign court. This vessel was now pitched upon
to transport the Chevalier; the size being limited, she could
accommodate but few passengers: and therefore, to avoid confusion, the
Chevalier "himself thought fit to name who should attend him." "The Earl
of Mar, who was the first named, made difficulty, and begged he might be
left behind; but the Chevalier being positive for his going, and telling
him that, in a great measure, there were the same reasons for his going
as for his own,that his friends could more easily get terms without him
than with him, and that, as things now stood, he could be of no more use
to them in their own country, he submitted."

The Chevalier then chose
the Marquis of Drummond to accompany him: this nobleman was lame from a
fail from his horse, and was not in a condition to follow the army. He,
as well as the Earl of Mar, the Lord Tullibardine, and the Lord
Linlithgow had a bill of attainder passed against them. The Chevalier on
that account was desirous of taking these other Lords with him; but both
were absent: Lord Tullibardine was at Brechin with a part of the foot,
and Lord Linlithgow at Berire with the horse. He ordered the Earl
Marischal, General Sheldon, and Colonel Clephan to accompany him.

After these arrangements
the Chevalier issued several orders which reflect the utmost credit upon
his disposition. After appointing General Gordon Commander-in-chief,
with all necessary powers, he wrote a paper containing his reasons for
leaving the kingdom, and, delivering it to the General, gave him at the
same time all the money in his possession, except a small sum which he
reserved for his expenses and those of his suite; and desired, that
after the army had been paid, the residue should be given to the
impoverished and houseless inhabitants of Auchterarder. He then dictated
a letter to the Duke of Argyle, in which he dwelt at some length upon
his distress at being obliged, "among the manifold mortifications which
he had had in this unfortunate expedition," to burn the villages. The
letter, which was never delivered to the Duke of Argyle, is in the
possession of the Fingask family. [A copy is given of the Prince's
letter in Dr. Brown's work on the Highlands, vol. iv. p. 340. It is a
sort of expostulation with the Duke, but mildly and sensibly expresssd.
"I fear," he said, alluding to the British people, "they will find yet
more than I the smart of preferring a foreign yoke to the obedience they
owe me." He carried the Earl of Melfort and Lord Drummond, with General
Sheldon and ten other gentlemen, on hoard the same ship: they then
hoisted sail and put to sea; and notwithstanding that several of the
King's ships were cruizing on the coast, they sailed in safety, and
after a passage of seven days, arrived at Waldara, near Gravelines, in
French Flanders.]

Having completed these
arrangements, the Chevalier prepared to take leave for ever of the
Scottish shores. The hour had now arrived which was appointed for the
march of the troops, and the Chevalier's horses were brought before the
door of the house in which he lodged: the guard which usually attended
him whilst he mounted, were in readiness, and all was prepared as if he
were resolved to march with the clans to Aberdeen. But meantime, the
Chevalier had slipped out of his temporary abode on foot, accompanied
only by one servant; and going to the Earl of Mar's lodgings, he went
thence, attended by the Earl, through a bye-way to the water side, where
a boat awaited him and carried him and the Earl of Mar to a French ship
of ninety tons, the Marie Therese, of St. Make. About a quarter of an
hour afterwards two other boats.

The Chevalier sailed at
nine o'clock. Some hours afterwards, Earl Marischal and Colonel Clephan
arrived at the shore, hut they could get no boat to convey them, for
fear of the men-of-war that were cruizing near. The Marie Therese,
nevertheless, got out of reach of these vessels before daylight.

With what reflections
Lord Mar left his native country a prey to the power of an irritated
Government, cannot readily be conceived. That he left it at such a
moment, is a fact which for ever stamps his memory with degradation. The
deserted adherents of James, being in no condition to make a stand
against the Duke of Argyle, betook themselves to holes and caves, mostly
in the remote parts of the Highlands, where many lurked until they could
safely appear; but such as were most obnoxious took the first
opportunity of ships to carry them into foreign countries; and vessels
were, to this end, provided by the Chevalier with such success, that
many escaped from the pursuit of justice.

James, accompanied by the
Earl of Mar, proceeded to his former residence at St. Germains, where,
in spite of the wishes of the French Government that he should repair to
his old asylum in Lorraine, he wished to remain. In Paris, the Chevalier
met two of his most distinguished adherents,the faithless Bolingbroke,
and the popular Duke of Ormond. Although aware of the unsoundness of
Boliugbroke's loyalty, James received him cordially, "No Italian," says
Bolingbroke, "ever embraced the man he was going to stab with a greater
show of affection and confidence."

For some time the
Chevalier lingered in Paris, hoping to see the Regent. "His trunks were
packed, his chaise was ordered at five that afternoon," writes Lord
Bolingbroke, ''and I wrote word to Paris that he was gone. Instead of
taking post for Lorraine, he went to the little house in the Bois de
Boulogne, where his female ministers resided; and there he continued
lurking for some days, pleasing himself with the air of mystery and
business, while the only real business which he should have had at heart
he neglected."

Avignon was now fixed on
as the retreat of the Chevalier; and thither, after some delay, he
retired, to an existence politically forgotten by the Continental
powers, until the war with Spain and the consequent declaration of the
Spanish King in his favour recalled him to importance.

Lord Mar, meantime,
occupied himself in fruitless endeavours to excite, once more, the
struggle which had just ended so fatally. As far as France was
concerned, all those schemes upon which Mar successively built were
futile: no aid could ever be expected during the Regency. "My hopes,"
said Bolingbroke, speaking of the Jacobite cause, "sunk as he [Louis the
Fourteenth] declined, and died when he expired. The event of things has
sufficiently shown that all those which were entertained by the Duke [of
Ormond], and the Jacobite party under the Regency, were the grossest
delusions imaginable." Some of the remaining years of Lord Mar's life
were, nevertheless, devoted to chimerical projects, for which he
received in return little but disappointment, ingratitude, and
humiliation. One of his schemes was to engage Charles the Twelfth of
Sweden on the side of the Chevalier. In a letter to Captain Straiton,
the Chevalier's agent in Edinburgh, he signified that if five or six
thousand bolls of meal could be purchased by the King's friends and sent
to Sweden, where there was then a great scarcity, it would be of service
to his master in conciliating the good will of Charles. This proposal
was communicated by Mar's desire to Lockhart of Carnwath, to Lord
Balmerino, and to the Bishop of Edinburgh. But it was the sanguine
disposition of Mar which alone could lead him to suppose such a scheme
practicable. It was, in the first place, found impossible to raise so
large a sum from men, many of them exiles, or involved in difficulties
from the expenses of the recent insurrection. It was also deemed folly
to conceive that so large a quantity of Scotch meal as was necessary
could he exported without exciting the suspicion of Government.

The next plan which Lord
Mar contrived was not so fully unfolded as the project of which Charles
the Twelfth was to be the object. He wrote to Edinburgh, soon after the
failure of the first scheme, to this effect: That a certain foreign
prince had entered into a design for the restoration of Jamos: that it
"would look odd if his friends at home did not assist him;" and he
wished they would fall on some means to have in readiness such a sum as
they could afford to venture in his cause when a fair opportunity
occurred. The hint was taken up seriously by the zealous Lockhart of
Carnwath, and assurances were sent from "several persons of honour, that
they would be in a condition to answer his Majesty's call." Among these,
the Earl of Eglintoun offered three thousand guineas; and the others
"would have given a good round sum." The conduct of the English
Government to the Duke of Argyle, who had been superseded as
Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, and the strong personal friendship
between Lockhart and the Duke, emboldened Mar to hope that a negotiation
might be entered into with Argyle, and that he might be persuaded to
join in their schemes. At the same time, Lord Mar enjoined the strictest
secrecy in all these affairs, and with reason, for the letters of the
exiled Jacobites abounded in false hopes and plans; and many of their
correspondents at home had not the discretion to conceal their delight,
when the sanguine expectations of their party prevailed over despair.

The agent employed by
Lockhart to treat with the Duke of Argyle was Colonel John Middleton. By
him Lockhart was, however, assured that his Grace would neither directly
nor indirectly treat with liar, for "he believed him his mortal enemy,
and had no opinion of his honour; and," added Middleton, "I cannot think
Mar does, more seriously now than before, desire to see Argyle in the
King's measures, lest he eclipsed him." It was therefore resolved by
Lokkhart, that the correspondence between the Chevalier and Argyle
should be contrived without Mar's cognizance. A letter was written to
James, and was forwarded by Captain Straiton, enclosed, to the Earl of
Mar, who was, in another epistle from Lockhart, "entreated not to be
offended that the contents of the letter were not communicated to him,
because he was bound to impart the same alone to the King."

This letter, containing a
proposal so important to the interests of James, is supposed never to
have readied the Chevalier. Mar, distrustful and offended, is suspected
of having broken it open, and given it his own answer in a letter to the
Duke of Argyle, which tended to affront and repel the Duke rather than
to invite him to allegiance. When, some time afterwards, Lockhart's son
spoke on the subject to the Chevalier at home, and represented what a
fair opportunity had been lost, the Prince replied, "that he did not
remember ever to have heard of it before." Whether Mar was misjudged or
not must be a matter of doubt, but this anecdote proves how little
respect was entertained for his good faith, or even for his possessing
the common sentiments of gentlemanly propriety, when the suspicion of
breaking open a letter which had been entrusted to him was attached to
his conduct.

In consequence of the
difficulty of bringing any scheme to bear, from the want of a head,
Lockhart had contrived a plan of having trustees in Scotland to conduct
it, to be empowered by James to act during his absence, and in his
behalf. This plan had the usual obstacles to encounter among a set of
factious partisans, who were only united when the common danger pressed
and common services were required, but discordant and selfish in the
calmer days of suspense. Mar, perhaps, with greater wisdom than he was
allowed to display, did not advance the scheme; his reluctance to
promote it was ascribed to his love of power in Scotland; but since the
plan was resented by Tullibardine, Seaforth, and Penmure, as infringing
upon their dignity, there is as good reason for believing that it was
the suggestion of an intriguing ambition on the part of the proposer, as
that Mar resisted it on selfish grounds. The notion was excellent, but
the difficulty was to find men of sufficient fidelity, honesty, and
prudence to exercise functions so delicate.

The spirit of Jacobitism
seems scarcely, at this period to have been checked in the bosoms of the
resolute people who had suffered so much; and the Netherbow and the High
Street of Edinburgh still resounded at times with the firing of
musquetry, directed against a harmless rabble of boys who betrayed the
popular feeling by the white roses in their hats. Nor was the lingering
enthusiasm for the Jacobite cause continued to the. lower classes in
either country. It is almost incredible that men of Whig principles, who
held high offices in the Government, should, at various times, have
engaged in correspondence with the agents of James; yet such is the
fact.

Among those who were
involved in these dangerous negotiations, Charles Earl of Sunderland,
the son-in-law of Marlborough, and at that time Prime Minister of George
the First, was one with whom Lord Mar treated. Among the Sunderland
Papers is to be found a singular letter from the Earl of Mar to the Earl
of Sunderland, urging that nobleman to assist in inducing his royal
master to accede to a proposal from which he might himself derive a
suitable advantage. "We find," says Dr. Coxe, unequivocal proofs
that Lord Sunderland, who was considered at the head of the new
administration formed in 1717, was in secret correspondence with the
Pretender and his principal agents."

The letter referred to
from Lord Mar, on which Dr. Coxe has inscribed the word "curious," began
with professions of respect and confidence on the part of his Lordship,
to whom it was quite as easy to address those expressions to a man of
one party as of the other. It contained also a promise of secrecy, and
an exaction of a similar observance on the part of Lord Sunderland. He
then alluded to the misfortunes into which the British nation was thrown
by the disputed succession, and the violence of party spirit in
consequence. The subtle politician next touched on the subject of George
the First, whom he delicately terms, "your master."

"Whatever good opinion
you may have of your master, and the way that things are ordered there
at present, does not alter the case much; his health is not so good as
to promise a long life, and he is not to live always even if it were
good, nor will things continue there as they are, any longer than he
lives at most."

He then suggests that the
Earl would have it in his power to prevent the dangers resulting from a
disputed succession, "which can only be prevented by restoring the
rightful and lineal heir."

"I can assure your
Lordship," he continues, "my master has so many good qualities, that, he
will make the nation happie, and wants but to be known to be beloved;
and I dare promise in his name, that there is not any thing you could
ask of him, reasonable, for yourself and your friends, but he would
agree to. My master is young, in perfect good health, and as likely to
live as any who has pretensions to his crown, and he is now about
marrying, which, in all appearance, will perpetuate rightfull successors
to him of his own body, who will ever have more friends in those
kingdoms, as well as abroad, than to allow the house of Hanover to
continue in possession of their right without continual disturbance."

The Earl then suggests
that George the First should secure to himself the possession of "his
old and just inheritance, and by the assistance of this master, and
those who would join, acquire such new ones on the Continent as would
make his family more considerable than any of its neighbours.

"Britain and Ireland will
have reason to bless your master for so good and Christian an action;
and Europe no less for the repose it would have by it: and your master
would live the remainder of his life in all the tranquillity and
splendour that could be required, and end his days with the character of
good and just."

Lord Mar was at this time
on the borders of France, where he proposed to wait until he received
Lord Sunderland's reply, in hopes that the Minister of George the First
might be induced to give him a meeting, either in France or Flanders.
"If you approve not of what I have said," he adds, ''let it be buried on
your side, as, upon my honour, it shall be on mine." "I am afraid," he
adds in a postscript, "you know not my hand; but I have no other way of
assuring you of this being no counterfeit than by writing it myself, and
putting my seal to it."

The following remarks on
this letter are interesting; they were penned by Dr. Coxe:

"Singular as this
overture, made at such a period, may appear, we have strong proofs that
it was not discouraged by Sunderland; for he not only procured a pension
for the exiled nobleman, but even flattered the Jacobites with hopes
that he was inclined to favour their cause. This we find by intelligence
given at a subsequent period by the Jacobite spies."

The following addition to
the above-stated remark of Dr. Coxe is even yet more astonishing :

"On the death of Lord
Sunderland the secret of this correspondence became by some means known
to the Regent Duke of Orleans, and he hastened to make so important a
communication to the King of England. The letter written on this
occasion by the British agent at Paris, Sir Luke Schwaub, and the reply
of his friend Lord Carteret, then Secretary of State, are highly
curious, because they prove, not only the correspondence, but the fact
that it was known and approved by the King."

How near were the
unfortunate Stuarts to that throne which they were destined never to
ascend.

Upon the disgrace of
Bolingbroke, and on his return to England, the, Seals had been offered
by James Stuart to Lord Mar, who refused them on the ostensible ground
that he "could not speak French." The actual reason was perhaps to be
sought for in a far deeper motive.*

In 1714 the celebrated
Lord Stair had been sent as Ambassador to Frances chiefly to watch over
the proceedings of the Jacobites, and to cement a friendship with the
Duke of Orleans, on whom King George could not rely. The brilliant and
spirited manner in which Lord Stair executed this commission, the
splendour by which his embassy was distinguished, and his own personal
qualities, courtesy, shrewdness, and diligence, contributed mainly to
the diminution of the Jacobite influence, which declined under his
exertions. It was from Lord Stair's address that Boliogbroke, or, as
Stair calls him in his correspondence, Mr. York, was confirmed in his
disgust to the Jacobite cause.

Between Lord Stair and
the Earl of Mar an acquaintance had existed. Agreeably to the fashion of
the period, -which led Queen Anne and the Duchess of Marlborough to
assume the names of Morley and Freeman, Lord Stair and Lord Mar, in the
early days of their confidence, had adopted the familiar names of
Captain Brown, and Joe Murray.

Lord Mar had remained in
Paris until October 1717; he then went into Italy with the Duke of
Ormond; but previous to his departure he called on Lord Stair, and
remained in the house of the Ambassador for four or five hours. He
appears to have declared to Lord Stair that he then looked upon the
affairs of his master as desperate. "He thing out,'' as Lord Stair
wrote, "several things, as I thought, with a design to try whether there
was any hopes of treating." Lord Stair, not liking to give an old friend
false hopes, declined "dipping into particulars;" adding at the same
time, in his account of the interview, "he would not have dealt so with
me: but in conversation of that kind there is always something curious
to be learned."

They parted without
explanation, and Lord Mar proceeded to Rome. The correspondence between
these two noblemen ceased for nearly two years. During that interval,
James had married the Princess Clementina Maria, a daughter of Prince
Sobieski, elder son of John King of Poland. The marriage could scarcely
have been solemnized, since it took place early in May 1719, before we
find Lord Mar at Geneva, on his way from Italy, resuming his
negotiations with Lord Stair.

"Good Captain Brown will
not, I hope, take amiss his old 'acquaintance Jo. Murraye's writing to
him at this time; and when he knows the occasion, 1 am persuaded he will
forgive him, and comply, as far as he can, with what he is to ask him.
Mj health is not so good just now nor for some time past, as you would
wish it; and I am advised to drink the waters of Bourbon for it, as
being the likest to those of the Bath of any this side the sea, of which
I formerly found so much good. The hot climate where I have been for
some time past, by no means agrees with my health; and I am persuaded
that where some of our company is gone will still do worse with me.

"The affair in which it
might be thought my Captain would employ me being now, I suppose, over
for this bout, there needs be, I should think, no objection to what I
should ask.

"I am come part of the
way already; but I would not go much further, without acquainting you
with it. And now I beg that on the consideration of the health of an old
friend, you w ill give me allowance or furlo to go to the waters of
Bourbon, and to continue there so long as 1 may have occasion for them
during the two seasons this year; and I promise to you 1 shall do
nothing in any way, the time of my being there, but as you would have
me; so that this allowance can be of no prejudice to the service. If you
cannot give me the furlo yourself, I imagine your Colonel will not
refuse it, if you will be so good as to ash it for me.

"But because the first
season of the waters is going fast away, I should be glad you could do
it without waiting to hear from your Colonel about it, who, I should
think, will not take it amiss when you acquaint him with your having
ventured to do so. Do not, I beg of you, think there is any fetch in
this, or anything but what I have told you, which, upon honour, is
nothing but truth, and all the truth.

"I hope there will be no
occasion of your mentioning your having had this trouble from me to any,
unless it be to your Colonel and one or two about him, and the person,
it is like, you must speak to where you are. There is one with me, an
old school acquaintance of yours too, Mr. Stuart of Invernethy, whom yon
have seen dance very merrily over a sword; and if the allowance is
granted me, 1 hope it will not be refused to him, for whom 1 promise as
I do for myself.

"When I have done with
the waters, I hope there will be no objection to my returning to Italy
again, if I have a mind; but 1 judged it fit to mention this to you.

"The person who delivers
you this, will get conveyed to me what you will be so good to write."

Whilst he was thus in
treaty with his former friend, Lord Mar was stopped on his way to St.
Prix, near Geneva, by the orders of the Hanoverian Minister: his papers
were seized and sealed up; and among them, a copy of that which was
written to Lord Stair as Captain Brown. Lord Mar, who had borne an
assumed name, disclosed his real rank, and wrote to Lord Stair for
assistance,again urging permission to go to the waters of Bourbon, or,
if not allowed to go into France, the liberty to return to Italy,
"where," he said, "I may end my days in quiet; and those, probably, will
not be many in that climate." Whilst awaiting the reply of Lord Stair,
the Earl was treated with respect by the authorities of Geneva; and "had
only to wish that he had a little more liberty for taking air and
exercise." He expected that Lord Stair's answer could not arrive in less
than a fortnight: in the meantime, he adds, "I shall be obliged, on
account of my health, to ask the Government here a little more tether."

His indulgent friend,
Lord Stair, was, meantime, urging his cause by every means in his power.
"I wish Lord Mar," he wrote to the English Ministry, "was at liberty
upon his parole to the town of Geneva, or he had permission to go to the
waters of Bourbon. I should be glad to know what pension you would allow
him till he be restored?"

Lady Mar was now in Home,
whither she had followed her husband soon after his leaving Scotland.

Her jointure, it appears,
was stopped by the Commissioners, and she was unable, without that
supply, to travel from Rome to Geneva. She was, probably, aware of Lord
Mar's intention to leave the Chevalier's service, for the Earl had
written a long letter, explanatory of his situation and intentions, to
her father, the Duke of Kingston. "I have offered him for Lady Mar's
journey," says Lord Stair, "credit upon me for a thousand pounds." Yet
notwithstanding this liberality, Lord Mar now began to be extremely
uneasy at Geneva, and to fear that the Government meant "merely to
expose him." In vain, for some time, did Stair plead for him, with
Secretary Craggs and Lord Stanhope. They were evidently', from Lord
Stair's replies to their objections, afraid to have any dealings with
him. "As to Lord Mar," writes Stair, "the things that shock you, shock
me; but our business is to break the Pretender's party by detaching him
from it, which we shall effectually do by letting him live in quiet at
Geneva or elsewhere, and by giving him a pension. Whatever his
Lordship's intentions may be, it is very certain, in a few months, that
the Jacobites will pull his throat out,you know them well enough not to
doubt of it. The Pretender," he adds, "looks upon Mar as lost, and has
had no manner of confidence in him ever since Lady Mar came into Italy.
They looked upon her as a spy, and that she had corrupted her husband.
This, you may depend on it, is true." Little more than a week
afterwards, Lord Stair informed his friends that "Lord Mar was autre at
the usage he had met with. He says our Ministers may he great and able
men, but that they are not skilled at making proselytes, or keeping
friends when they have them. I am pretty much of his mind."

It was, doubtless, as
Lord Stair declared, the full determination of Lord Mar at that time to
leave the Chevalier's interests. "The Pretender, I know," said Stair.
"wrote him the kindest letter imaginable, since his [the Pretender's]
return into Italy, from Spain, with the warmest invitations to return to
his post."

The letters which Lord
Stair had received, in the course of this negotiation, from Lord Mar,
were instantly sent to Hanover. They were in some instances written in
his own hand, but without signature, and in the third person. In the
first which he wrote to Lord Stair, Mar announced that he had quitted
the service of James, and was desirous of making peace with King George
upon the promise of a pardon, and the restoration of his estates.

"You are to consider,"
says Lord Stair, writing to the Secretary of State at home concerning
this proposal, "whether it will be worth the while to receive him. In my
humble opinion the taking him off will be the greatest blow that can be
given to the Pretender's interest, and the greatest discredit to it. And
it may be made of use to show to the world that nobody but a Papist can
hope to continue in favour with the Pretender. I wish," adds the
Ambassador, "you may think as I do. I own all his faults and misfortunes
cannot make me forget the long and intimate friendship and familiarity
that has been between him and me." It is consoling to find any
politician acting upon such good old-fashioned maxims, the result of
honest feeling.

Lady Mar having now
joined her husband, Lord Mar resolved to make his escape from Geneva.
Lord Stair advised him against it; but adds, in his letters to his
friends at home, "I could hardly imagine that a man of his temper, and
in his circumstances, will refuse his liberty when he sees he has
nothing but ill usage and neglect to expect from us."

Thus ended this
negotiation, the main conditions of which were, provided Lord Mar kept
himself free from any plots against the Government, an offer of the
family estate to his son; and, in the interim, till an act of Parliament
could be obtained to that effect, a pension of two thousand pounds
sterling, over and above one thousand five hundred pounds paid of
jointure to his wife and daughter.

It was the fortune of
Lord Mar on this, as on many other occasions, to reap the ignominy of
having accepted this pension, without ever receiving the profits of his
debasement.

During the absence of
Lord Mar at Geneva, his Countess, who remained in Rome, received the
following letters from the Chevalier and his Princess, Maria Clementina:
these epistles show how desirous the Chevalier still was to retain Lord
Mar in his interests.

"Monfrfiascony, Sept. 9,
1719.

"The Duke of Mar's late
misfortunes and my own situation for some months past, hath occasioned
my being much in the. dark as to his present circumstances, which touche
me too nearly not to desire you will inform me particularly of them. The
last letter I had from him was in the begining of May, from Genua, in
which he mentioned to me his state of health, and something of your
comeing to meet him at Bourbon waters; but the season for them now
advanceing, or rather passeing, I reckon that whether he had gone
thither or not, he will soon be here on ye receipt of the note I sent
you t'other day for him, and by consequence that what measures he may
have taken with you about your meeting him will be altered on sight of
that. I thought it necessary to inform you of these particulars to
prevent any thoughts you might have of a journey so expensive and now
useless : for as to his liberty, I make no doubt but that it will
immediately follow the certainty of my return to this country. I should
think it not prudent to write any politicks to him now, not knowing what
fate my letters might meet with; but there is no secret in your sayeing
all that is kind from me to him. If you cannot exagerate as to my
impatience to see him. after all our mutual misfortunes.

"From original letters,
for which 1 arn indebted to Alexander Mae-donsld, Esq., of the Register
Office, Edinburgh and adventures, and I am sure he will be glad to know
and see me more happy in a wife than I can be otherwayes, in most
respects.

"I hope soon to have the
satisfaction of seeing you at Rome, when I believe I shall soon convince
you that if you and your lord have in the world many false friends, I am
and ever shall be a true one to you both. James R."

Professions of confidence
and affection, the seeds of distrust were, it seems, soon sown between
James and the Earl and Countess of Mar. At first the suggestions to
their disadvantage were repelled. "There has been enough pains,'' writes
James, "taken from Rome within these few days to do you ill offices with
me, but I can assure you with truth they have made no impression upon
me, nor will they produce any other effect than to make me, if possible,
kinder to you. But when I see you I shall say more on this head, for
'tis fitt you should know your false from your true friends; and among
the last you shall ever find me*

"James R,"

An order, dated the ninth
of October, 1719, that all such boxes "as are in the Duchesse of Mar's
custody should be first paled by her, and then delivered with their
keyes to Sir William Ellis," written in the Chevalier's own hand, shews
either that Lady Mar was on the eve of her departure from Italy, or that
a breach of confidence had taken place.

Lord Mar, with impaired
health, and writhing under the rejection of his offers, returned to
Italy. There, had he adhered to a resolution which he had formed, of not
interfering in public affairs, he might still have closed his days in
tranquillity.

Soon after Lord Mar's
return to Rome, the seeds of disunion between James and his young and
high-spirited wife began to disturb the minds of all who were really
well wishers to the Stuarts.

Maria Clementina,
reported by Horace Walpole to have been "lively, insinuating, agreeable,
and enterprising," had. encountered, soon after her marriage with James,
the too frequent fate of many who were sacrificed to royal marriages.
She had quickly perceived that her influence was inferior to that of the
Prince's favourites: She was shortly made aware of his infidelities: she
became jealous, without affection; and her disappointment in her consort
was that of a proud, resentful woman, to whom submission to
circumstances was a lesson too galling to be learned.

The Prince, after the
fashion of his forefathers, was governed by favourites: like Charles the
First, he had his Buckingham and his Straffurd; and his miniature Court
was rent with factions. But the Chevalier had neither the purity of
Charles the First, nor the, charm of character which gilded over the
vices of Charles the Second. His household was an epitome of the worst
passions; and his melancholy aspect, his want of dignity and spirit, his
bigotry, and even his unpopular virtue of economy, cast a gloom over
that turbulent region. It was bitterly, but perhaps truly said of him,
"that he had all the superstition of a capuchin, but none of the
religion of a Prince."*Like most of his immediate family, his character
deteriorated as he grew older. He did not rise under the pressure of
adversity; and his timid, irresolute nature was crushed by the effects
of his cruel situation.

Colonel John Hay, of
Cromlix, the brother of the Earl of Mar's first wife, and of George,
seventh Earl of Kinnoul, succeeded in obtaining mastery over his subdued
nature. The lady of Colonel Hay, Margery, the third daughter of Viscount
Stormont, was said, also, to have possessed her own share of influence
over the mind of the Chevalier. Of the real existence of any criminal
attachment between the Prince and Holingbivke. Mrs. Hay, there is,
however, considerable doubt; and it has been generally regarded as one
of these rumours raised for a purpose, during the continuance of a
fierce contention for power.

Clementina had also her
favourites; and a certain Mrs. Sheldon, who had had the charge of Prince
Charles Edward, had acquired her confidence. This choice was peculiarly
infelicitous.

Mrs. Sheldon was reported
to be about as unwurthy a favourite as the unhappy Princess could have
selected. According to Colonel Hay, she was the mistress of General
Dillon, one of the most ardent adherents of the Stuarts, and the spy of
the Earl of Mar. For four or five years nevertheless, after Prince
Charles's birth, she continued to be his governess, and to sway the
feelings of his mother, in the same manner as confidants and dependants
usually direct the angry passions of their mistresses into the most
dangerous channels.

During the height of
Colonel Hay's favour, the confidence of the Chevalier in Lord Mar
visibly declined, as appears in the following letter to one of his
adherents in Scotland.

''I have always been
unwilling to mention Marr, but I find myself indispensably engaged at
present to let my Scots friends know that I have withdrawn my confidence
entirely from him, as I shall be obliged to doe from all who may be any
ways influenced by him. This conduct is founded on the most urgent,
strongest, and most urging necessity, in which my regard to my faithful!
subjects and servants have the greatest share.

"What is here said of
Marr, is not with a view of its being made publick, there being no
occasion for that, since, many years ago, he put himself under such
engagements, that he could not serve me in a publick capacity, neither
has he been publickly employed by me."

To this it was answered,
by the confidential friend to whom the remarks were addressed, "It is
some time agoe since your friends here had doubts of the Earl of Marr;
and thence it was that I was directed to mention him in the manner I did
in my last two letters, it being matter of no small moment to us to know
in whom wee might confide thorowly, and of whom beware,especially when
a person of his figure was the object."

Affairs were in this
state; the Chevalier distrustful of Lord Mar, and devoted to his rival,
Colonel Hay; the Princess heading an opposite faction, nominally
commanded by Mrs. Sheldon, but secretly instigated by Lord Mar; when, in
1722, the. conspiracy of Atterbury was discovered by the British
Government.

The Earl of Mar was at
that time in Paris, and Lord Carteret who was at the head of affairs in
England, remembering the Earl's former negotiations with Lord Stair,
dispatched a gentleman to Mar, with instructions to sound that nobleman
as to his knowledge of the plot. Lord Mar happening to be in Colonel
Dillon's company when the messenger reached Paris, and soon divining
after one interview the nature of the embassy, it was agreed between him
and Dillon, that they would do James's cause a service by leading the
British Government off the right scent. They therefore drew up, in
conjunction, an answer to Lord Carteret. What was the nature of that
reply, does not appear; but its result was such as to cast upon Lord Mar
a degree of odium far greater than that which he had incurred in Lord
Stair's business. He was accused by Atterbury with having, on that
occasion, written such a letter as had been the cause of his banishment;
with having betrayed the secrets of the Chevalier St. George to the
British Government; and of several other charges of base and treacherous
practises, discovered by the Bishop; of Rochester, that the like had
scarce been heard of, and seem'd to be what in man, endued with common
sense, or the least drop of noble blood, could perpetrate; and that the
King's friends were at a loss in not knowing what credit to give to such
reports, tho' they apprehended the worst, from the directions he had
lately given of having no correspondence with Mar or his adherents, from
whom he had withdrawn all confidence "

Shortly after this
declaration the Chevalier declared Colonel Hay to be his Secretary, and
created the favourite Earl of Inverness; between whom and the Earl of
Mar an antipathy, which had now become open hostility, prevailed. "The
Duke of Mar," wrote the Earl of Inverness to Lockhart, "has declared
himself my mortal enemy, only because I spoke truth to him, and could
not, in my conscience, enter into his measures nor approve his conduct,
tho' I always shunned saying any thing to his disadvantage, but to the
King alone, from whom I thought I was obliged to conceal nothing."

With respect to the
treachery towards Atterbury, the justification of Lord liar rests upon
the testimony of Colonel Dillon, and other persons who saw the Earl's
letter to Carteret. It is also certain that James accorded his approval
to liar's conduct in that affair. No positive intention of mischief can
be made out against liar; but his habit of rarely acting a
straightforward part, his insatiable love of interference, and his
mistaking cunning for policy, brought upon him the mournful indignation
of the exiled Atterbury, and fixed upon him a grave imputation which it
were almost impossible to wipe away.

Another charge brought by
Atterbury against Lord Mar, was his advising James to barter his
pretensions to the Crown for a pension. I5ut this accusation is refuted
by the two letters, of which vouchers are given in the Loekhart Papers,
on which the allegation is founded. These letters were written from
Geneva to the Prince and to Colonel Dillon.

Lastly, Lord Mar stood
charged with a scheme, discovered to Atterbury by Lord Inverness, for
the restoration of the Stuarts, which, under pretence of replacing them
on the throne, would fur ever have rendered that restoration
impracticable. From this allegation Lord Mar justified himself by
referring to the scheme itself, which he was declared to have laid
before the Regent of France with the intent to ruin James. Of this
scheme, the two main features were, first to re-establish the ancient
independence of Scotland and Ireland: secondly, that a certain number of
French troops should remain in England, and that five thousand Scots,
and as many Irish troops, should be sent to France and kept in pay by
the French Ring, for a certain number of years. There is certainly a
great deal of Mar's double policy, his being all things to all men, in
such a scheme. He declared, however, and proved that he acquainted James
with his plan in confidence, and that Colonel Hay sent a copy of it to
the Bishop of Rochester. Little as one can approve of Mar's conduct, it
is manifest that, by a deeply-laid intrigue, it was resolved for ever to
uproot hirn from the confidence of James.

But the public career of
Lord Mar had now drawn to its ignoble close. That he had his partisans,
who repelled the charges against him by counter allegations, Lord
Inverness soon found ; and he began to think that "the less noise that
was made about Mar," the better.

During the year 1725,
James further evinced his distrust of Lord Mar, by dismissing Mr.
Sheldon, his supposed spy, and placing Mr. James Murray, a Protestant,
as preceptor to the young Prince.

The retirement of the
Princess Clementina into a convent, followed this last step. The
correspondence of the royal couple, their recriminations, furnished, for
some months, conversation for the continental courts, and even for St.
James's, until the dismissal of Colonel Hay and his wife appeased the
resolute daughter of the Sobieski, and produced an apparent
reconciliation.

From the close of this
altercation, and after the disgrace of Colonel Hay, the name of Lord Mar
occurs no more in the history of the period. He resided at Paris until
1729, when, falling into ill health, he repaired to Aix la Chapelle,
where he died in May 1732.

His wife survived him
twenty-nine years, only to he the victim of mental disease, and, as it
has been said, of cruelty and neglect. She became insane, and was placed
under the charge of her sister, Lady Mary who, it has been reported,
from avarice, stinted her unfortunate sister of even the common
necessaries of life, and appropriated the allowance to herself. But this
statement has been disproved.

The latter years of Lord
Mar were passed neither in idleness, nor wholly in the intrigues of the
Court at Alhano. His amusement was to draw plans and designs for the
improvement of Scotland, which he had loved "not wisely," but to which
his warmest affections are said to have ever recurred. In 1728 he
composed a paper, in which he suggested building bridges on the north
and south sides of the city of Edinburgh: he planned, also, the
formation of a navigable canal between the Forth and the Clyde. His
beloved Alloa was sold by the Commissioners of the forfeited estates to
his brother, Lord Grange, who, in 1739, conveyed it to Lord Erskine, his
nephew. Lord Mar's children were enriched by the gratitude of Gibbs, the
architect, who bequeathed to the offspring of his early patron the
greatest part of his fortune.

The Earl of Mar was
succeeded by his son, Thomas Lord Erskine, who was deprived of the lamed
title of Mar by his father's attainder. Lord Erskine was appointed by
Government, Commissary of Stores at Grbraltar. His marriage with Lady
Charlotte Hope being without issue, the title was restored to the
descendant of Lord Grange, and consequently to the children of the
unfortunate Lady Grange, whose sufferings, from the effects of party
spirit, seem to belong more properly to the page of romance, than to the
graver details of history.

The conduct of John
Erskine, Earl of Mar, has afforded a subject of comment to two men of
very different character, John Lockhart of Carnwath, and the Master of
Sinclair. Neither of the portraits drawn by these master-hands are
favourable; and they were, in both instances, written under the
influence of strong, yet transient impressions of disappointment and
suspicion. The mind naturally seeks for some safer steersman to guide
opinion than the intemperate though honest Jacobite, Lockhart, or the
sarcastic and slippery friend, Sinclair. The worst peculiarity in the
career of Mar was, that no one trusted him; towards the latter portion
of his life he had even lost the power of deceiving: it had become
impossible to him to act without mingling the poison of deception with
intentions which might have been honest, and even benevolent. The habits
of a long life of intrigue had warped his very nature. When we behold
him fleeing from the coasts of Scotland, leaving behind him the trusting
hearts that would have bled for him, we fancy that no moral degradation
can be more complete. We view him soliciting to be a pensioner of
England, and we acknowledge that it was even possible to sink still more
deeply into infamy.

With principles of action
utterly unsound, it is surprising how much influence Lord Mar acquired
over all with whom he came into collision. He was sanguine in
disposition, and, if we may judge by his letters, buoyant in his
spirits; his disposition was conciliatory, his manners were apparently
confiding. At the bottom of that gay courtesy there.doubtless was a
heart warped by policy, but not inherently unkind. He attached to him
the lowly. Lockhart speaks of the love of two of his kinsmen to him :
his tenantry, -during his exile, contributed to supply his wants, by a
subscription. These are the few redeeming characteristics of one made up
of inconsistencies. He conferred, it must be allowed, but little credit
on a party which could number among its adherents the brave Earl
Marischal, the benevolent and honourable Derwentwater, and the
disinterested Nithisdale. When we contrast the petty and selfish policy
of the Earl of Mar with the integrity and fidelity of those who fought
in the same cause, and over whom he was commander, his character sinks
low in the estimate, and acts like a foil to the purity and brightness
of his fellow sufferers in the strife.

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